After many senseless mass shootings, a new voice of stricken outrage is moved to strike at the very heart of America's free market ethos. The Mayor of Chicago wants banks -- including Canada's Toronto-Dominion bank -- to cut off cash flow to manufacturers who don't endorse gun control. A call to corporate responsibility? Or to corporate intervention?

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US mayors plead with TD Bank to stop loans to gun manufacturers - Chicago Mayor's Office

Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important. Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something.

That's Gabrielle Giffords struggling to speak before a U.S. senate hearing on gun violence yesterday. Two years after she was shot in the head, the former democratic congresswoman pleaded for new gun control legislation. Her testimony is part of a heated showdown over gun violence in America. Wayne Lapierre of the National Rifle Association also testified.

While we're ready to participate in meaningful effort to solve these pressing problems, we must respectively but honestly and firmly disagree with some members of the committee and many in the media and all the gun control groups on what will keep our kids and keep streets safe. Law abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals. Nor do we believe that government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families.

Rahm Emanuel - the mayor of Chicago -- has extended the gun control battleground to include corporate boardrooms. Last week, he issued a letter to the CEOs of TD Bank US holding company and the Bank of America to stop lending money to gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson.

Kathleen Strand is the Deputy Communications Director for Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel. She was in Chicago.

We reached out to both TD Bank and Smith & Wesson to join us on the show. Both declined our request for an interview.

US mayors plead with TD Bank to stop loans to gun manufacturers - Panel

Rahm Emanuel's request that TD effectively collaborate on gun control raises concerns among some about political influence over corporations.

Moin Yahya is a professor of law at the University of Alberta and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. He joined us from Edmonton.

And Toby Heaps is the CEO of Corporate Knights. He was in Toronto.

This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal and Dawna Dingwall.

Other segments from today's show:

Should the RCMP train police in Saudi Arabia?

Are weaponized drones responsible for human rights abuses?