Bank of America announced Tuesday it will stop lending to gun companies that manufacture assault-style firearms for civilian use, like AR-15-style rifles. The move comes in response to intense pressure put on financial institutions following the Parkland shooting to cut ties with the firearm industry and divest from gun manufacturers. Citigroup said last month it plans to prohibit retail chains it works with from selling bump stocks, as well as require background checks, according to Bloomberg.
“It’s our intention not to finance these military-style firearms for civilian use,” Anne Finucane, a vice chairman at BOA, told Bloomberg Television Tuesday. “We want to contribute in any way we can to reduce these mass shootings.” Finucane said the bank works with “just a handful of manufacturers,” but has been engaged in “intense conversations over the last few months” with those gunmakers.
The gun and ammunition industry, as a whole, was worth $51 billion last year, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry lobby. “At least a half-dozen of the nation’s major gun manufacturers produce military-style firearms, including Remington Outdoor Co., Sturm Ruger & Co., SIG Sauer, Vista Outdoor Inc., O.F. Mossberg & Sons and American Outdoor Brands Corp,” according to Bloomberg. “Bank of America has helped finance Vista Outdoor Inc., an outdoor goods and shooting industry brand, and Remington, a bankrupt firearms maker.”
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