II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 159 

To terminate Operation Choke Point. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 17, 2017 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To terminate Operation Choke Point. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firearms Manufactur5 ers and Dealers Protection Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Because of the actions of the Department 

9 of Justice and the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor10 poration (referred to in this section as the ‘‘FDIC’’), 

11 the program known as ‘‘Operation Choke Point’’ has 

12 become a threat to the Second Amendment to the 


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1 Constitution of the United States and to firearms 

2 dealers and manufacturers. 

3 (2) In the summer of 2011, the FDIC pub4 lished an article in which it designated firearms 

5 sales and ammunition sales as ‘‘high-risk’’ indus6 tries. 

7 (3) The article published by the FDIC thus put 

8 manufacturers and dealers of firearms in the same 

9 category as cable box descramblers, credit card 

10 schemes, drug paraphernalia, escort services, get11 rich products, home-based charities, lottery sales, 

12 online gambling, payday loans, Ponzi schemes, por13 nography, racist materials, and tobacco sales. 

14 (4) Most of the businesses grouped with the 

15 sale of firearms and ammunition involve activities 

16 that are inherently pernicious or patently illegal. 

17 (5) The obvious intent, therefore, of the inclu18 sion of businesses in the FDIC’s ‘‘high-risk’’ cat19 egory was the eradication of those businesses. 

20 (6) The FDIC sought to achieve this eradi21 cation by encouraging banks to withdraw credit pro22 vided to targeted industries and otherwise terminate 

23 financial relationships with the businesses in ques24 tion. 


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1 (7) FDIC officials discussed mechanisms for 

2 guaranteeing that bank officials saw the list and 

3 ‘‘[got] the message’’. 

4 (8) The FDIC and the Department of Justice 

5 worked together to implement Operation Choke 

6 Point to actively realize the objective of eradicating 

7 ‘‘high-risk’’ industries such as the sale of firearms 

8 and ammunition. 

9 (9) According to the Committee on Oversight 

10 and Government Reform of the House of Represent11 atives, the FDIC and the Department of Justice 

12 ‘‘may have misled Congress about this partnership’’ 

13 in connection with Operation Choke Point. 

14 (10) Committee language in both the House of 

15 Representatives and Senate versions of the Consoli16 dated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 

17 2015 (Public Law 113–235) completely defunded 

18 Operation Choke Point. 

19 (11) In order to salvage Operation Choke Point, 

20 the FDIC removed firearms sales and ammunition 

21 sales from the list of ‘‘high-risk’’ industries. 

22 (12) Even after that action, however, there is 

23 evidence that the FDIC and the Department of Jus24 tice continue to use Operation Choke Point to target 


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1 firearms dealers such as Hawkins Guns LLC of 

2 Hawkins, Wisconsin. 

3 (13) There is evidence that the targeting of 

4 Hawkins Guns LLC is far from an isolated incident. 

5 (14) It has become clear that the FDIC and the 

6 Department of Justice can no longer be trusted to 

7 carry out Operation Choke Point without targeting 

8 the Second Amendment and firearm dealers and 

9 manufacturers. 

10 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to termi11 nate Operation Choke Point and any similar program that 

12 attempts to infringe upon the Second Amendment to the 

13 Constitution of the United States or eradicate the manu14 facture and sale of firearms and ammunition. 

15 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT. 

16 No amounts appropriated or otherwise made avail17 able under any provision of law enacted before, on, or after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, nor any amounts de19 rived from any fee or other source, may be used by the 

20 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Department 

21 of Justice, or any other Federal agency to carry out Oper22 ation Choke Point or any other program designed to dis23 courage the provision or continuation of credit or the procVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 Jan 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S159.IS S159

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1 essing of payments by financial institutions for dealers 

2 and manufacturers of firearms and ammunition. 

Æ 


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