Fellow Conservative,

Right now, Republicans from both the House and the Senate are returning to Washington from their 2-day GOP retreat.

The retreat serves as a chance for members of the party to get together and plot their vision for the next Congress. There is a sense within the party that it is time to move on to new business. But there is a lot of ‘old business’ that hasn’t been resolved yet, including the Obama administration’s assault on the Second Amendment.

Last year, the House of Representatives slipped an amendment into the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015 that completely defunded Operation Choke Point.

As you might remember, Operation Choke Point is a DOJ program that uses the full weight of the Federal government to pressure banks and financial institutions to drop gun stores as customers.

The Justice Department, in cooperation with the FDIC, began labeling gun stores as “high risk” merchants. Gun dealers were lumped in with escort services, pornography, firework stores, and drug paraphernalia as all businesses that financial institutions should avoid servicing.

This has become one of the administration’s greatest tools to go after gun stores and the Second Amendment.

As I said, the House defunded the program. But the Obama administration is carrying on anyway!

Eric Holder’s DOJ is defying Congress! Force them to stop Operation Choke Point once and for all!

This is how Operation Choke Point works. The DOJ/FDIC go to financial institutions and threaten increased regulations if they continue to service businesses that sell guns and ammunition.

The financial institutions, eager to avoid more regulation and bureaucratic red tape, comply and drop the gun stores as clients.

This means that law-abiding gun dealers are becoming unable to secure financing, being turned away from credit card processors, and are having their checking and savings accounts closed.

The result has been devastating both to gun dealers and the consumers. What makes it so despicable is that the whole purpose of this program is to make it harder for gun stores to do business. It makes firearms and ammunition more expensive, and these costs are passed down to the consumer.

The DOJ was ordered to stop the program but another gun store just had its bank account closed under the program!

Operation Choke Point was never about stopping crime… it was about targeting an entire industry that the Obama administration philosophically and politically disagrees with. It was about finding new ways to infringe on your Second Amendment rights without having to go through Congress!

If the full weight of the Federal Government can go down on one industry and try to push lawful storefronts out of business, then this can happen to anyone. Yes, this is about STOPPING the federal government from targeting gun stores, but we also must ensure that this type of harassment is not allowed, regardless of the legal industry targeted!

Our Second Amendment rights are precious. But unless you know how to manufacture your own firearms, the exercising of your right to keep and bear arms is largely dependent on firearm retail stores. That is why the Obama administration is trying to put them out of business and we must push back and stop this illegal and unconstitutional anti-gun program!

Congress moved to defund this abusive program because patriots like you answered the call and overwhelmed them with tens of thousands of faxes demanding that they act! Eric Holder’s DOJ has completely disregarded the law and continued targeting gun stores!

Demand that Congress put a stop to this illegal anti-gun program once and for all and start arresting these criminal bureaucrats!

Eric Holder’s DOJ is defying Congress! Force them to stop Operation Choke Point once and for all!

Sincerely,

Joe Otto

Conservative Daily