Dear Conservative,





We all know that Eric Holder and the Department of Justice despise the Second Amendment. As far as they are concerned, the only people who should have access to firearms are the military, law enforcement, and Mexican drug cartels (see: Operation Fast and Furious).





It seems that Eric Holder hasn't learned his lesson, because there is now a new "operation" that is trying to vilify gun owners and gun stores (FFLs) and put them out of business!





Under Operation Choke Point, the DOJ has been pressuring credit card companies and banks to stop serving stores that sell guns and ammunition! The goal is to eliminate the options that gun stores have to process credit cards or even just manage their finances, which effectively puts them out of business!





Tell Congress to STOP the DOJ from going after the Second Amendment!





Haven’t heard too much about this in the media, have you? Under Operation Choke Point, the DOJ tries to overwhelm banks and credit card companies with subpoenas and compliance costs in order to pressure them to stop providing financial services to gun stores and other “taboo” businesses.





The worst part of this is that the program is actually working. The DOJ has been able to get financial institutions to drop gun stores just because the administration disagrees with their line of business. The administration isn't only targeting gun stores, either. Operation Choke Point also targets the adult film industry, firework stores, dating services, tobacco, and a number of other legal, but "taboo" industries.





There is nothing illegal about any of these industries; however, the Obama administration is trying to stop financial institutions from serving gun stores and allowing firearms to be purchased using credit cards. And we aren't just talking about small credit card companies either. One gun store was recently dropped by Bank of America for no reason whatsoever, calling into question just how deep Operation Choke Point goes.





A 2011 FDIC report on "disreputable merchants" explains that “although many clients of payment processors are reputable merchants, an increasing number are not and should be considered ‘high risk... these disreputable merchants use payment processors to charge consumers for questionable or fraudulent goods and services.”





Since the FDIC labeled gun stores as "high risk" ventures, banks have been wary of taking on new FFLs as clients. Any banks that remained loyal to their gun store customers have been targeted by the DOJ with what essentially amounts to blackmail; being threatened with subpoenas, sanctions, and audits if they don't drop gun store accounts.





This should make you furious! Instead of dealing with real crime, the DOJ is targeting gun stores just because the administration philosophically disagrees with their existence.





The fact that the administration would stoop this low to stop credit card purchases of legal guns identifies just how far the regime will go in order to curtail your constitutional rights.

Make no mistake: a private company is allowed to pick and choose who it does business with, and many companies already prohibited gun dealers from using their services. That is unfortunate, but not the issue at hand here. The issue at hand is the fact that the Department of Justice would deliberately pressure a private financial institution to change policy all to meet a greater political agenda!

This is government corruption at its worst; using the power of the executive branch to target companies counter to the administration’s goal (disarmament).

These are legal businesses conducting legal trade. They are not being targeted because they have broken any laws. No, Eric Holder’s Department of Justice is going after these gun dealers because they fundamentally disagree that they should even be allowed to exist!

This is unacceptable in our constitutional republic and if it is acceptable for the administration to target one company for any reason whatsoever, then we are all in danger!

Tell Congress to STOP the DOJ from going after the Second Amendment!

Sincerely,

Joe Otto

Conservative Daily