Last month, we reported that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a significant banking regulator, issued a proposed rule that aims to end politically-motivated manipulation of the financial service industry and require large banks to provide fair access to all the products they offer law-abiding customers – including the firearms community.
Then, last week, 23 Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee submitted a comment on the proposed rule that attempted to explain how a rule aimed at preventing discrimination in the administration of financial services is bad public policy. The committee members opined that “the quantitative-only risk analysis that would be required by the NPRM discounts other material risks, including public safety, to the extent financial institutions voluntarily chose to adopt a decision-making framework intended to reduce gun violence when determining who and how they serve potential customers.”
One would hope that any member of the Financial Services Committee would be aware that decisions regarding “public safety” and other “material risks” are already priced into consumer decision-making. It appears that the committee members just don’t like the results of those decisions.
The OCC is accepting comments on the rulemaking through the government’s online regulatory portals until Jan. 4, 2021. The NRA encourages all firearm-related businesses that have been harmed by political discrimination in the provision of financial services to provide their respectful and constructive feedback on the proposal.
