Former members of the Obama administration love to  sing the refrain about being the most scandal free administration in modern history. This claim ignores Fast and Furious, IRS targeting of conservatives, spying on the Trump presidential campaign, and many others. Considering the recent spate of mass shootings, and recognizing that Biden is under the influence of Obama, the most relevant historical scandal is Operation Choke Point.

Since congress refused to acquiesce to the Obama administration’s demands for gun laws  they decided to try and mitigate the problem on their own.

This program, known as Operation Choke Point, operated unrestrained for years. Officials at both the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) threatened banks with regulatory pressure if they did not bend to their will. Gun and ammunition dealers, payday lenders and other businesses operating legally suddenly found banks terminating their accounts with little explanation aside from “regulatory pressure.”

This was obviously a forerunner of the cancel culture that we see today. Back in the Obama years, before big tech decided to openly jump into the democratic party, they had to run these campaigns on the background. Today, with the tech companies firmly embedded in politics, the harm done to completely legal businesses could wipe out wide swaths of market sectors that the left disagrees with. And this can all be done outside of the law.

If a private company decides that it does or does not want to do business with an entity, it is largely allowed to do so. Many states have anti-discrimination laws, but unless the aggrieved party has evidence and the means to sue, it is unlikely to find relief.

While I do support the idea of companies getting to do what they want with their own stuff, I hate it when they are in league with the government. That just makes them an arm of an entity that can use guns to enforce their desires, and removes them from the free market. That is why business jumping in bed with the government is never a good idea. They get to pick the winners with ammunition.

So when the Biden team says that they are considering executive action on gun control, they already have the means. Large lenders like Bank of America have already shown their willingness to help by giving the FBI transaction records of people in the DC area during the January riots. Online advertising giant, Google is squarely in the pocket of the left. And if you want to raise money for a cause the left believes is heretical, don’t try GoFundMe.

We need to build or buy companies that exist outside of the influence of the left. Otherwise Operation Choke Point can shut down more than just the gun industry.