I bank there.

I received a call today from my branch manager saying they have detected "firearms related activity" in my account, and wanted to know if it was going to continue...

WHAT? Why? "The Patriot Act requires us to monitor accounts for unusual activity..."

What activity are you concerned about? - You have had several firearms related purchases and deposits (?) in September and this triggered our inquiry....

Scary stuff. I checked my account and there were a few charges at gunsamerica and some gun shops. I asked for a written explanation of their concerns- probably won't get it.

Is this what our world is coming to? Sooo I voted with my feet and asked them to close my account, which got their attention. But I am still very bothered by it...

Very good post 404.It's not easy living in amongst liberals.Keep up the fight.An organization like that does not belong in America.

Since when can't you exercise your Second Amendment Rights to purchase and buy firearms legally and lawfully? Send this story on to the NRA and SCI and let them publicize it. We need to have everyone who owns firearms and does business with this kind of ilk pull their accounts and do business with other banks. This sounds like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. Screw Union Bank. Ridiculous.

quote:

Sooo I voted with my feet and asked them to close my account, which got their attention.

+1

I agree with "use enough gun" Send this to the NRA...

Definitely, with copies of all supporting paperwork.

In the future, get cash and buy firearms related stuff at local merchants. No record.

Bloody disgrace...

What was your reply to them???

Thank you all for the comments. Sitting in my office taking the call, I admit I was bothered but also a little worried. Were they calling the ATF next? What did they see in my account that warranted the call?


I asked to speak with someone in the "monitoring department" to find out exactly what they were looking at, and the gal said she would try to get "authority" for this, and return my call. She did not phone back.

The gal who called was very polite and apologetic, but darn it she is not the one "monitoring" and going "pc" about firearms...

I will draft up a synopsis of the call and send it to the branch and ask for their comment, then forward it on - to the appropriate people at the NRA.

Don't know how seriously the NRA takes this sort of thing, but they should push back on it.

Bear in mind the issues were a check deposited for sale of a rifle (BTW to an AR member) with a description of the rifle in the memo area, 2 gun shop charges, small, and 2 gunsamerica charges for listings, about $25..

As you stated earlier, this all probably has to do with the Patriot Act. If there was ever a misnamed piece of legislation, this is it.

This week I had to order visa debit cards for work as gifts ($20 amounts) and had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with the bank to verify that where I work is a legitimate business and that I'm not Al Queda in America, and it was all do to the Patriot Act.

quote:

I received a call today from my branch manager saying they have detected "firearms related activity" in my account, and wanted to know if it was going to continue...

WHAT? Why? "The Patriot Act requires us to monitor accounts for unusual activity..."

.404,
I am a commercial banker and can tell you all about the Patriot Act and SARS (suspicious activity reports). These guys are knuckleheads if they think this is suspicious activity... maybe if you were selling guns and then wiring proceeds to Russia, Iran, Iraq...

My advice is to write a polite letter telling them you are moving your business and why and find a bank that is shooting sports friendly. Lots of my banker friends are avid hunters and shooters... Sporting Clays is nothing but golf with shotguns and you know the old joke about bankers and golf! Find an institution that mirrors your sensibilities! Good luck!

In a word "YIKES"!!!!!!

bwanamrm's advice is spot on. You need to send your concerns on to SCI as well as the NRA. They are both powerful enough to put a stop to this kind of bullcrap.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
bwanamrm's advice is spot on. You need to send your concerns on to SCI as well as the NRA. They are both powerful enough to put a stop to this kind of bullcrap.

+

bloody scary Big brother crap!

the best way to hurt these idiots is in the pocket book. Hopefully the NRA will write them a letter telling them they are going public with this.

The Patriot Act was all fun and games as long as they only did crap like this to other people. Just wait 'till the "Chosen One" gets to be President and imagine how much fun he is going to have with this.

I can tell you that from the "muscle end" of the Patriot, that bank is NUTS. There is zero, ZERO provisions for that type of "red flag" to come up. But whatever you do, DO NOT call the ATF. They are NOT your friends. In fact I firmly believe they are on a mission to make firearms ownership illegal. It's only ging to get worse. jorge

quote:

Originally posted by dbltap:
The Patriot Act was all fun and games as long as they only did crap like this to other people. Just wait 'till the "Chosen One" gets to be President and imagine how much fun he is going to have with this.

+1

Good move Joel. I agree w/ bwana, it's an over zealous employee & you did the right thing but should have gone to the manager about your privacy. I see it more & more as more & more people tune to the Obama, antigun, socialist news groups. People want change, well it's coming! I hate to think where we are headed.

Right on Fredj, When the liberals get all lined up in Washington, in about two years, this will be a common occurence. I am very fearful about the future of hunting and shooting!

Dak

I hesitated to open this because I thought it was another whiney post about some inferred meaning of some official paper work but goddam this is scary...

This should be a friggin eye opener for those morons who say "Well I don;t do anything ILLEGAL so they can look all they want" Now, here's a guy doing something TOTALLY LEGAL and still he gets the shit. Not to be so far out but doesn't anyone else smell the reeking stench of fascism here?

_Disgusted,

_BAxter

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I had a long, sometimes contentious argument with a sitting federal circuit court judge two-three years ago about the potential abuses the Patriot Act would cause. He thought that the appropriate safeguards were in the statute and the eventual regulations to keep bureaucrats and the like (your banker for instance, 404) in check constitutionally.

I disagreed, and posited the proposition that this tool was too easily used, and would be abused in the near future. Unfortunately I was right.

404: I suggest that you complain to your state attorney general and the state banking regulators. As Jorge said above, I see no reason to involve the ATF.

Your bank may be in violation of your state's banking privacy laws, and the attorney general will be able to help you with that.

Do not close your account, until you have contacted all potential state regulators. Your standing to sue may become compromised.

Good luck.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

I sent a link to this topic to a number of friends with the following explaination:

If you ever wondered why you should be a member of the National Rifle Assn.,or thought they are over the top and paranoid, read these posts all the way through.

The second thought I have is that as time passes, I become more and more a libertarian, seems to me every time some law is passed, no matter how well named or intentioned, we just open the door for governemnt to use it to control our lives for their own goals. To quote dbltap's post, about 2/3 of the way down; " The Patriot Act was all fun and games as long as they only did crap like this to other people. Just wait 'till the "Chosen One" gets to be president, imagine how much fun he is going to have with this."

All of us may well find ourselves considered terrorists by 2012.

Don't let them use the "Patriot Act" as an excuse to monitor "firearms related activity". If that was actually a requirement we all would be getting those calls. Too many people use the "law" as an excuse for all sorts of objectionable activity.

And for those of you that don't yet have concealed carry, the clock is ticking.

This is part of the reason the collectors club I am in dropped our account of almost 20 years with Union Bank back in 2004.
LLS

Hey 404-

Man, this is really scary.

I don't know how far you want to take this or how much of a witch hunt you are willing to go on, but here are some names of Union Bank employees and their political affiliations (implied by their political contributions).

I gathered this information from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) using the search engine of their "Campaign Finance Reports and Data".

www.fec.gov

Below is a mix of friends and foe at Union Bank: