General Electric Capital, part of the crony capitalist clique backing the Obama regime, quietly is telling gun dealers that they will no longer provide financing. Joe Palazzolo and Kate Linebaugh of MarketWatch write:

This month, Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan's Outdoor Store in Bay City, Mich., said he received a letter from GE Capital Retail Bank in which the lender said it had made "the difficult decision" to stop providing financing services to his store. Other gun dealers have received similar notices.

GE is at least the second big financial firm to retreat from the gun business following the school shootings, which claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six adults in December.

Days after the killings, private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP said it would try to sell the gun company it owns -- Freedom Group Inc. -- which makes brands including Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin and H&R.

So without government outright obstructing or banning firearms, it is possible to make them unavailable to the public by harassing and denying resources to those firms and individuals which provide products and services to gun owners. This is a civil rights issue, hindering exercise of constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Update -- Rick Moran has a slightly different view:

The advantage of using GE Capital was that they do all the work. They collect the money, dun the late payers, and supply credit accounting services all for a reasonable fee. Those losing GE Capital as a credit partner may find another lender, but they probably won't be as reasonable or effective as GE.

It's a sign of the times, I suppose. Companies whose business is consumer-based will look long and hard at working with gun stores simply because the anti-gun activists can make a stink if they want to. GE headed that problem off by making the problem disappear.

It's not a question of bravery or cowardice. It's a matter of dollars and cents, profit and loss. No responsible business executive will be able to ignore the fallout.