This Union-Owned Bank Is Leading The Efforts To Track, Potentially Report Consumers' Gun And Ammo Purchases
How a 100-year old, union-owned bank is spearheading the financial sector's efforts to track and report certain customer purchases of guns and ammunition.
In late December, former U.S. Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) wrote a warning that ‘banks might start closing accounts of customers who buy too many guns or too much ammo.’
While Barr did not state that banks are currently closing accounts of those who purchase guns and ammo, there is a current and growing effort to build databases of those who purchase guns and ammunition and report certain purchases to authorities.
“It probably won’t be long before your friendly hometown bank will be filing even more secret Suspicious Activity Reports with the feds, or simply closing down your account if it decides you are buying too many guns or too much ammunition.” — Former U.S. Congressman Bob Barr
That effort is being spearheaded by the Amalgamated Bank, a union-owned bank that was founded in 1923, and its current CEO Priscilla Sims Brown.
“Thanks to a recent move by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO, headquartered in Switzerland), U.S. banks are starting to build databases on their customers’ purchases of firearms and ammunition,” wrote the former Congressman.
“One bank in particular has been at the forefront of the move to institutionalize credit card codes for gun and ammunition purchases,” Barr stated, “and now to database that information — Amalgamated Bank, Priscilla Sims Brown leading the charge.”
What Barr, as well as the Federalist’s Jordan Boyd (in a separate story about monitoring consumers’ gun purchases) did not report is that Amalgamated Bank is union-owned and publicly-traded with significant ties to unions, union clients, pension funds and, as its boast on its website of over 500 progressive political organizations, included such notable ties to the Democratic National Committee, Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, Nancy Pelosi’s campaign, the Biden-Harris campaign and the Biden Foundation.
The Amalgamated Bank
The Amalgamated Bank was founded in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and, through a series of union mergers and takeovers, is now owned by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the same union behind the union organizing at Starbucks.
“When you deposit your money at Amalgamated, it supports sustainable organizations, progressive causes, and social justice,” the bank’s website states. “We are committed to environmental and social responsibility.”
Amalgamated Bank’s Anti-Gun Activism
The bank’s ‘Anti-Violence & Gun Safety’ page cites its efforts to monitor gun and ammunition purchases, its support for “red flag” laws, as well as its refusal to loan money to gun or ammunition manufacturers or distributors.
“Amalgamated Bank is proud to partner with many organizations creating a safer society and we are using our voice to set the industry standard so that all financial institutions can help keep their communities safe from gun violence,” the bank states on its website.
Amalgamated’s CEO, Priscilla Brown Sims
With a background in the financial services industry, Priscilla Brown Sims was named Amalgamated Bank’s CEO in 2021.
Since joining the bank as its CEO, Amalgamated successfully petitioned the International Standards Organization for a new merchant category code (MCC) for gun and ammunition stores.
In June, Sims appeared on CBS to explain the bank’s position on tracking purchases of guns and ammunition.
“This code is the key to creating new tools that all financial institutions must now use to begin detecting and reporting suspicious activity associated with gun trafficking and mass shootings to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the government agency charged with safeguarding the financial system from illicit use,” the bank announced in a September 2022 press release.
In his December op-ed, ex-Congressman Barr briefly described the history of laws—from the the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 to the Patriot Act—allows the government to snoop into customers’ purchases.
“Over the years, however, the many-headed hydra we call the system now includes virtually any banking customer activity that a bank employee might consider to be suspicious,” Barr wrote. “In fact, banks’ primary tool in this regard is a document called a ‘Suspicious Activity Report’ or ‘SAR.’”
“As the first banking organization to endorse Everytown for Gun Safety’s principles, and the first to enact procedures to ensure that all commercial clients adhere to Everytown’s Gun Safety Codes of Conduct,” the bank stated, “Amalgamated Bank has been at the forefront of supporting gun violence prevention.”
“Amalgamated is hardly alone in this effort,” Barr wrote, “It enjoys the support of gun control groups and major credit card companies, including American Express, Visa, and Mastercard.”
While the closing of gun or ammo buyers’ accounts may have not yet occurred as Barr warns, as monitoring of purchases increases, it may only be a matter of time.