Banking giant and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon made claims over the weekend that his bank doesn’t “debank” or politically-discriminate against account holders.

That claim is simply untrue. And NSSF has the receipts.

Dimon appeared on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” with Maria Bartiromo to address claims by former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who now serves as the chief executive of Trump Media. Nunes explained that despite Dimon’s claims that they don’t debank entities for political reasons, Trump Media was a political target under the Biden administration.

“People have to grow up here, OK, and stop making up things and stuff like that,” Dimon said, according to The Hill, adding “I can’t talk about an individual account. We do not … debank people for religious or political affiliations.”

Dimon then attempted to qualify his statement, explaining, “We debank people who are Democrats. We debank people who are Republicans. We have debanked different religious folks. Never was that for that reason.”

But that’s not true. And you don’t have to take my word for it. You can take Dimon’s own words for it.

The Receipts

Dimon testified at a Congressional hearing and stated under oath in 2021 that JPMorgan Chase would not lend to manufacturers of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). “We do not finance the manufacture of military-style weapons for civilian use,” Dimon said at the time using a gun control trope to describe MSRs.

It didn’t end there. Just two years ago, JPMorgan Chase was caught red-handed using their financial might to pressure the financial software company Intuit into preventing firearm businesses from using their payment services. The revelation came to light after several businesses told U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of Intuit abandoning them, only to have Intuit tell the senator they made the move after JPMorgan Chase, along with Bank of America, told them to prohibit gun manufacturers and sellers from using Intuit’s QuickBooks software.

The decision to debank firearm businesses was not an issue of credit worthiness or sustainable business models. It was all political. And intentional.

JPMorgan Chase chose to bend to political pressure that started with Operation Choke Point, former President Barack Obama’s plan, along with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), to squeeze out firearm-related businesses and other politically disfavored industries by classifying them as “high risk” or “reputational risk.” Congress ended Operation Choke Point, but the practice was privatized and continued unabated.

Dimon admitted as much when he testified in 2021. The decision to withhold banking services to firearm-related businesses was a political decision. MSRs are legal products. They are the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America with over 30 million in circulation today. To put that in perspective, that’s more rifles in circulation than there are Ford F-150s on the road today, the most popular selling pick-up truck in America.

Talk is Cheap

Still, Dimon tried to equivocate. He said he wants banking reform, just like President Donald Trump said he’d bring, and is bringing.

“I want to change these rules. I actually applaud the Trump administration, who’s trying to say that debanking is bad and we should change the rules,” Dimon told Bartiromo, according to The Hill. “Well, damn it, I have been asking to change the rules now for 15 years. So change the rules.”

The rules are changing. And there’s nothing stopping Dimon from changing how JPMorgan Chase does business. NSSF applauded the Trump administration’s Executive Order ending “woke” banking discrimination, signed in August. NSSF also supported the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcement of new actions to eliminate politicized or unlawful debanking in the federal baking systems.

“The OCC is taking steps to end the weaponization of the financial system,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould in a news release. “We are working to root out bank activities that unlawfully debank or discriminate against customers on the basis of political or religious beliefs, or lawful business activities. If and when the OCC identifies such activity, it will take action to end it.”

Earlier this year, the OCC removed references to reputation risk from its handbooks and guidance documents and it will soon propose a rule removing these same references from its regulations.

Dimon has been vocal to deny JPMorgan Chase debanks entities for political reasons, despite his own testimony and evidence proving he does. And while he claims he wants banking reform, he’s suspiciously silent when it comes to Congressional efforts to make those changes into law.

Dimon could come out in support of U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act, S. 875, which is supported by NSSF and has already passed favorably from the Senate Banking Committee. That bill has a companion in the U.S. House of Representatives, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), introduced under the same title as H.R. 2702, which has also passed favorably from the House Financial Services Committee.

Dimon could also support bills that NSSF agrees will help end banking discrimination against the firearm industry. NSSF continues to support Congressional efforts to codify protections against banking discrimination by the Fair Access to Banking Act, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) as S. 401 and in the House by Rep. Barr (R-Ky.) as H.R. 987, as well as the Firearm Industry Nondiscrimination (FIND) Act, introduced in the House by Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) as H.R. 45 and the Senate by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) as S. 137.

Further, NSSF was successful in passing the FIND Act in 11 states, which prohibits state agencies and local government entities from entering into taxpayer-funded contracts with corporations that discriminate against members of the firearm industry.

Dimon needs to do better. A banking CEO can’t expect to go on television and claim his corporate bank doesn’t discriminate when there’s so much evidence it does, and he has testified under oath to that fact.

NSSF calls upon Dimon to publicly renounce his bank’s antigun policy that he testified to under oath before Congress. Talk is cheap, Mr. Dimon. Time to walk the talk.

— Larry Keane

Lawrence G. Keane is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association.