Appearing on MSNBC in the 9:00 a.m. ET hour on Tuesday, with fellow anti-gun activist Stephanie Ruhle, New York Times finance editor Andrew Ross Sorkin touted his latest column demanding that banks and credit card companies ban their customers from making gun purchases with credit cards.
“A new column out by friend in The New York Times floats the idea that if Washington will not act to control gun laws across the country, banks might actually do it,” Ruhle announced. She eagerly recited: “The article says, quote, ‘There’s a real opportunity for the business community to fill the void and prove that all that talk about moral responsibility is not hollow.’”
Sorkin enthusiastically explained how companies could restrict people’s financial freedom while subverting democracy at the same time:
I’m always trying to figure out, if the government can’t do it, is there something, is there leverage somewhere in the system?...I started looking through how this whole world is financed, that it’s very easy, or it could be easy, if the credit card companies, and that’s the Visa, American Express, MasterCard, were to step up....
If they were to say to merchants, “Look, we’re not in the gun business, we don’t want to be in the gun business. And if you sell these types of products, we’re not gonna work with you,” that it could be a very powerful incentive to really change the dynamic. And it doesn’t require a law. They talk about moral responsibility all the time. This is an easy way to do it and to show it.
Sorkin specified which firearms and equipment he had in mind: “And when I talk about guns in this particular instance, I’m talking about assault rifles, I’m talking about high-capacity magazines, I’m talking about bump stocks. I think the things that people think are really the worst of the worst at this point.” However, he never elaborated on how such a system would work.
Without worrying about the constitutional rights of American citizens, Ruhle promptly endorsed the plan: “Andrew, I buy it. I like the idea. Have you made the outgoing calls? Have you called CitiBank, Visa, Jamie Dimon over at JPMorgan?” Sorkin gushed: “I did have a lot of conversations with a lot of very well-known CEOs that you know. Most of these conversations took place on background over the weekend as I was trying to socialize this idea and try to understand their viewpoint.”
Moments later, he shared supposed concerns from those CEOs that enacting such a proposal would spark violent attacks from gun owners:
I will tell you, the scariest part of these conversations with so many of them....a lot of them said, “You know what, I don’t want to put my employees in harm’s way. I actually think that there could be an incident if we were to do this. I don’t want to bring attention to ourselves”....And that’s a very, very scary thing.
Ruhle replied: “Wow.”
Wrapping up the discussion, Sorkin proclaimed:
I think there’s an ongoing conversation behind the scenes. And I hope it comes to the fore and I hope people get a chance to see it and I hope that maybe we do see something like this....I think that everything you can do to make it harder, more expensive to get at these types of guns and this type of equipment, especially the high-capacity magazines and the like, and bump stocks and things like that. I think that – you’ve done a disservice if you’re not trying to get that out of people’s hands.
Since when is it the job of a journalist to call up business leaders and lobby them to undermine the Second Amendment rights of their customers?
Just imagine if a reporter went on television touting a plan to get credit card companies to ban their customers from paying for abortions, would Ruhle “like the idea”?
Here are excerpts of the February 20 segment:
9:35 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: A new column out by friend in The New York Times floats the idea that if Washington will not act to control gun laws across the country, banks might actually do it. Banks, can you believe it? The vampire squids, they may be the ones? The article says, quote, “There’s a real opportunity for the business community to fill the void and prove that all that talk about moral responsibility is not hollow.” I want to bring in my friend and the author of this great column, Andrew Ross Sorkin, who is in South Korea right now covering the Olympics. Andrew, walk us through this.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN [NEW YORK TIMES] Hey, Steph, thank you. You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s going on in our country since the latest school shooting, just another tragedy. And as you know, I’m a follow-the-money guy, so I’m always trying to figure out, if the government can’t do it, is there something, is there leverage somewhere in the system?
And when you start to think about the opportunity, all of these gun makers and folks who retail guns, that sell guns. And when I talk about guns in this particular instance, I’m talking about assault rifles, I’m talking about high-capacity magazines, I’m talking about bump stocks. I think the things that people think are really the worst of the worst at this point.
And it seemed to me, as I started looking through how this whole world is financed, that it’s very easy, or it could be easy, if the credit card companies, and that’s the Visa, American Express, MasterCard, were to step up. Or the card issuers, like JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo. Or the people who process the payments, First Data, JPMorgan owns one as well. If they were to say to merchants, “Look, we’re not in the gun business, we don’t want to be in the gun business. And if you sell these types of products, we’re not gonna work with you,” that it could be a very powerful incentive to really change the dynamic.
And it doesn’t require a law. They talk about moral responsibility all the time. This is an easy way to do it and to show it. And that’s really at the heart of the idea.
(...)
RUHLE: Andrew, I buy it. I like the idea. Have you made the outgoing calls? Have you called CitiBank, Visa, Jamie Dimon over at JPMorgan?
SORKIN: I’m gonna save some of these folks for the moment, because I did have a lot of conversations with a lot of very well-known CEOs that you know. Most of these conversations took place on background over the weekend as I was trying to socialize this idea and try to understand their viewpoint.
I will tell you, the scariest part of these conversations with so many of them said, “You know what, I like the idea, there’s part of us that actually would like to do something like this, but we are scared about two things. Part of it is we’re scared about the economic potential boycott that could happen both from the NRA and gun owners, who say, you know what, if JPMorgan does this, we’re not going to use their cards.” The other thing that’s more nerve-racking, though, is a lot of them said, “You know what, I don’t want to put my employees in harm’s way. I actually think that there could be an incident if we were to do this. I don’t want to bring attention to ourselves.”
RUHLE: Wow.
SORKIN: And that’s a very, very scary thing. You know, when Starbucks came out with its carry – its ban on – or at least its recommendation to say, “Look, we don’t want our customers coming in with guns,” there were people who staged protests with guns at Starbuck stores. And that created a very scary environment for employees.
So I think that there’s a lot to be said about how you do this, sort of the layering effect. And I think, hopefully – because I’ve got now a lot of incomings, just even since the article’s been posted – I think there’s an ongoing conversation behind the scenes. And I hope it comes to the fore and I hope people get a chance to see it and I hope that maybe we do see something like this. It’s not going to end everything. It isn’t a panacea, I promise you. But I think it could help.
(...)
SORKIN: I think that everything you can do to make it harder, more expensive to get at these types of guns and this type of equipment, especially the high-capacity magazines and the like, and bump stocks and things like that. I think that – you’ve done a disservice if you’re not trying to get that out of people’s hands.
(...)
