Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking his gun control push to private banks and asking major lenders in Chicago to stop doing business with firearms manufacturers.
In a letter to TD Bank and Bank of America on Thursday, Mr. Emanuel asked the CEOs to force gun manufacturers they do business with to “find common ground with the vast majority of Americans who support a military weapons and ammunition ban.”
TD Bank provides $60 million in credit to Smith & Wesson; Bank of America provides a $25 million line to Sturm, Ruger & Co.
Mr. Emanuel can’t force the banks to comply, and so far, CEOs haven’t responded, the Boston Globe reports.
But the Chicago pol did just convince city officials to divest $5 billion in pension fund investments from companies that manufacture guns.
And that effort is reverberating among states. New York and California have both halted pension investments in companies that do business with the gun industry, according to various media reports.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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