CONTROL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, CONTROL EVERYTHING: Audio Tapes Reveal How Federal Regulators Shut Down Gun Store Owner’s Bank Accounts.

“The examiners from NCUA [National Credit Union Administration] — that’s who governs us — it’s a federal government agency. They came in and did an exam on everything,” the manager told Shuetz.

“There was about a dozen crawling of them crawling around the building. And they were just hammering us.”

“So they came in, looked at our books, looked at everything and said “here are some accounts that we feel that we’re going to regulate you on,’” the manager explained, adding “so they kind of put the screws to us as far as what we could and couldn’t do.”

“Our hands were tied by it,” he said.

“We never used to have to do that stuff,” the manager told Shuetz, explaining that after a recent merger, “our asset size grew to over $250 million, and we’re your that size it triggers NCUA examiners then coming in and looking at you closer.”

Numerous gun and ammunition dealers, payday lenders, and pawn shops have claimed they were unfairly targeted by the regulation by Operation Choke Point. Ostensibly designed to fight consumer fraud, Operation Choke Point essentially threatens onerous oversight on financial institutions which do business with companies in industries listed as “high-risk.”

Gun and ammunition dealers are on that list.