LAS VEGAS—Banks engaging in “woke capitalism” to withhold financial services to firearms manufactures will not be tolerated in their states, seven Republican governors said during a Jan. 18 forum.
“I’m not going to let some banks or processing companies discriminate in our state,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told the forum at the Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, noting he’s confident that lawmakers will adopt a bill this year prohibiting his state from contracting with financial services companies that impose restrictions on transactions involving the firearms and ammunition industries.
The bill named some of the largest banks in the nation as engaging in discriminatory practices against firearms businesses: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, PNC, and Goldman Sachs, as well as PayPal and the General Electric Credit Union.
The 2022 measure died in the Senate. Stitt predicted it would pass this year, confident that Oklahoma lawmakers are “not going to allow wokeness [to] trample our freedoms.”
The seven governors touted their states’ laws and business environments for luring gunmakers from states where anti-firearms sentiment has fostered a combative—and costly—regulatory environment.
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) 2022 Firearm and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact Report (pdf), the nation’s $70.52 billion firearms industry pays $7.86 billion in taxes—$4.6 billion in federal and $3.265 billion in state contributions—and employs more than 375,000 Americans with an average annual wage of $57,000.
The NSSF represents approximately 10,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, and sportsmen’s organizations. It hosts the annual four-day SHOT Show, which features more than 2,400 exhibitors, 60,000 attendees, and contributes $90 million to Las Vegas’s local economy.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said he “got elected to create jobs” and that is what the 146 gunmakers that operate in his state do by employing 2,500 state residents on a $103 million payroll that generates $367 million in economic impact.
These businesses also need protection from environmental, social, and governance (ESG) prioritization in investing, the governors said. ESG is increasingly in vogue as an investment strategy among Wall Street firms, and can affect state revenues by penalizing them for welcoming gunmakers into their states.
“ESG is a national and a state issue,” Gianforte said. “Just today, at the state’s Board of Investments [meeting], we have banned ESG” from being implemented with investments made from the state’s $21 billion retirement fund.
“We should fight back against this woke capitalism, which is really just activism” exerted by a handful of elites on Wall Street, he said.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said his state legislature adopted an ESG ban last year because the trend represents a dereliction of fiduciary duty.
State officials are “doing the best job we can to get a better return on state investments,” leaving little room for “mistaken agendas” that lead to poor decisions and outcomes with the people’s money, he said. “That is not doing their fiduciary duty.”
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said ESG does not enhance “shareholder value” and, therefore, has no place in state financial strategies and investments practices.
But firearms manufacturers do, he said, calling these companies key to his state’s strategy to “invest in the next 50 years, not the last 50 years.” Gunmakers employ 4,737 in Mississippi, with a $243 million payroll and $930 million in economic impact, according to the NSSF.
Defending a Scapegoated Industry
Reeves said governors and state lawmakers need to defend the firearms industry as they would any other, recalling how Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot last year blamed Mississippi-based firearms manufacturers for worsening gun crimes in her city.
Anti-gun politicians and advocates “regularly scapegoats our industries and freedom-loving Americans with blame-shifting and name-calling,” he said. “It is imperative for all of us to be ready to stand up and fight back.”
Newly-elected Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo noted that is easier said than done in his state. He was the only one of the seven governors who had to contend with a legislature controlled by Democrats.
“I don’t have the luxury” of working with a dominant conservative legislature, he said. “I need the industry to help me” as much as it needs his help.
Gunmakers employ 3,200 in Nevada with a $156 million payroll and $517.5 million in overall economic impact, according to the NSSF.
Nevadans are generally familiar and comfortable with firearms, Lombardo said. “There are some Democrats on our side of the fence” in the state legislature and the former Clark County Sheriff said he would veto any measure that infringes on the Second Amendment or hurts the state’s firearms industry.
Lombardo said he doesn’t really need to be proactive since Nevada is next to the “People’s Republic of California,” where progressive regulations and laws are driving businesses and people into his state.
His winning 2022 campaign was based on the theme, “We are not going to become California,” he said.
California, as well as Oregon and Washington, has also been a blessing for Idaho’s fiscal prospects, Gov. Brad Little said.
“You just described my fishing hole,” he said, recalling how Idaho has offered inducements to companies in the three coastal states to relocate for years but no longer needs to do so. ”Now, the fish are jumping into the boat.”
Firearms manufacturing, which employs 7,000 in Idaho, generating a $436 million payroll and $1.658 billion in economic impact, is becoming increasing important in a state with little oil development, and where mining, grazing, and timber are now “using less and less people.”
“The Rec-Tech industry is alive and well in Idaho,” Little said, and the state is aggressively soliciting gunmakers and related outdoors industry businesses.
Gunmakers Make for Good Business
Wyoming’s Gov. Gordon said his state’s firearms industry, which employs 3,672 with a $161 million payroll and an overall $689 million in economic impact, benefits from low taxes, the nation’s “nimblest legislature,” and relatively easy “access to leadership.”
He noted the Wyoming Senate president and state auditor were working the SHOT showfloor in an effort to entice gunmakers to move into the state.
Those advantages also include “a population that is fully immersed in gun culture. Wyoming has the highest per capita gun ownership,” Gordon said. “We can do things more quickly, more nimbly,” such as pass the bill Oklahoma lawmakers failed to adopt in 2022.
“Wyoming will stand with you, meet your needs,” he said, noting the state has refashioned its community colleges to produce the skilled workers that manufacturers need and provide “the best business climate” in the country.
Montana’s Gianforte said his state recently adopted a bill that assesses “zero” corporate income taxes on businesses based in the state, including firearms manufacturers who employ 3,325 and provide a $176 million payroll that delivers $663 million in overall economic impact.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, who said that passing a constitutional carry bill was a “high priority” for his administration, touted that the state’s “tremendously conservative legislature” encourages gunmakers to come to Nebraska, where the industry provides 3,325 jobs for Nebraskans with a $176 million payroll generating $663 million in economic impact.
“I’m the only governor in America that owns seven bunkers that the federal government used to store ammunition” for decades across 15 square miles near his home in Hastings. “We are now raising pigs in them, but we got plenty of room to store ammo.”
