April 20, 2018: Pressure Builds on Investment Firms to Confront the “Risk Exposure” of Gun Manufacturing Investments

Posted on April 20, 2018 at 12:00 AM

At a briefing April 18 organized by the WNDC Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention, staff from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence maintained that there has been a “cultural shift” regarding the NRA.

Take, for example, the growing number of congressional members who now boast of their “F” rating from the organization. Just two days ago on Twitter, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) displayed what he wrote on the questionnaire he received from the NRA. “Dear NRA, why haven’t you answered my letter asking you to clarify your links to the Kremlin? Also, please give me an “F” rating.  Thanks, Ted”. In addition, and probably helped by the persistence of Parkland High School student activists with their #BoycottVanguard and #BoycottBlackRock campaigns, the public is demanding more social responsibility from corporations and investment managers around the issue of gun safety.

In this connection, the American Federation of Teachers just released a special edition report titled “Gun Manufacturing and Investment Risks,” which “creates a watch list of investment managers who invest millions of dollars in companies that make assault weapons which have been used to attack public school students and staff.” The report highlights the successes the AFT has had in persuading several top investment firms such as Fidelity and Vanguard to join other Wall Street firms who either have or are currently “engaging in a dialogue with gun manufacturers and retailers regarding the risks posed by firearms.” Unfortunately, there is still work to be done.  Its attempts, for example, to engage Wells Fargo, a company that provides home mortgages to teachers, has so far not been constructive.

Read the entire report here.

–Shelly Livingston

PRESSURE BUILDS ON INVESTMENT FIRMS TO CONFRONT THE “RISK EXPOSURE” OF GUN MANUFACTURING INVESTMENTSActing Chair, Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention