Call to divest from gun companies

[BainsBane]

If you have a 401k, 403b, pension plan, or mutual fund, call the fund administrator to insist they divest from gun companies. If you can change your mutual fund choices yourself, consider opting for one that doesn't invest in guns. Many investment groups offer socially responsible mutual fund options. One power in this country is absolute-- money. Institutional investors, like universities and school districts, are the biggest investors on Wall Street. Remember Apartheid? Divestment contributed to its demise. You have more financial power than you realize. Use it!

[aikoaiko]

1. I'm OK with lawfully owned guns used for lawful purposes

I don't want gun companies to go away.

[BainsBane]

3. your choice

but I fail to understand why you feel a need to insert yourself in a call for activism that, by your own admission, doesn't apply to you. It's one thing to assert a Second Amendment right to own a gun and another to argue for the unfettered profits of a multi-billion dollar industry.

[aikoaiko]

20. Well, this is a discussion board. You presented a topic all members and I responded.

And I certainly made no comment on arguing for unfettered profits.

[geckosfeet]

2. I support jobs for Americans making and selling products in this country.

[BainsBane]

4. and guns aren't made abroad

Since when?

[geckosfeet]

7. Some are. But they are imported and sold here.

By Americans.

[BainsBane]

5. the funeral business is especially lucrative

lots of coffins, especially tiny size ones fit for 6 year olds.

[geckosfeet]

9. Different issue all together.

[BainsBane]

11. the exactly same issue

Guns kill and create lots of jobs manufacturing tiny coffins.
What did you think happened after 11 bullets pierce the body of a 40 lb child? Did you suppose those little bodies magically disappeared? 38,000 deaths a year in this country due to the gun jobs you care so much about, despite the fact the many of those guns are manufactured abroad. The bodies are American though. As are those of another 75,000 injured from firearms. More preschool children than active duty police die from guns. The jobs you care so much about have real life consequences.

[RomneyLies]

6. I think lots of mutual funds are probably already doing so.

They see the writing on the wall and the current growth in gun sales is unsustainable. especially with public mood about guns.

Smith and Wesson Holding Corp. took a big dump since it's high of 11.25 on December 7, just before the Sandy Hook tragedy. It closed at 8.46 today.

Sturm, Ruger and Co., Inc. was selling at a high of $60.11 at the same time in December, closed at 47.99 today.

[BainsBane]

12. yes, we can add to those voices

by contacting the companies that administer our own retirement plans.

[RomneyLies]

13. Fortunately, I manage my 401K investments

I have to watch specific funds, but I have the choice.

No gun stocks in my 401K, not that it's worth much. Just got back to where I was before Bush's crash.

[BainsBane]

15. meaning you switch your funds around?

But you can still call the company--in my case it's TIAA-Cref--to tell them you think they should divest entirely.

[RomneyLies]

16. I'll call the individual funds offered in the program

I'll even talk to a few I knew were in deep with Sturm, Ruger claiming I'm researching to see if I want to add them to my portfolio. when they get to Sturm Ruger I'll tell them thanks but no thanks.

[BainsBane]

17. fanastic!

[Llewlladdwr]

8. I can't support policies that punish hard-working Americans, sorry. nt

[BainsBane]

10. yes we know

of your relentless crusade for the corporate gun lobby. You make that clear several times a day. I don't recall asking you to participate, yet you can't pass up a chance to piss all over progressive activism.

You can take heart in the fact that funeral industry is especially active, producing and selling tiny little coffins that fit six year olds.

[Llewlladdwr]

18. I consider support fo rthe 2nd Amendment to *be* progressive activism.

Nor was I aware that I required an invitation to participate in an open thread here.

[BainsBane]

21. I don't recall mentioning the Second Amendment

No where in the second amendment does it guarantee unfettered profits to gun companies.

[Llewlladdwr]

23. It's difficult to exercise one's right to keep and bear an item that is unobtainable. nt

[BainsBane]

24. unobtainable?

Because the profits of the industry you worship would be diminished slightly? I see exactly what you are, as do the majority of DU members.

[BainsBane]

25. By the way

their is noting progressive about your particular interpretation of the Second Amendhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/16/1144982/-Daily-Kos-SEIU-State-of-the-Nation-poll-Romney-s-best-numbers-of-the-weekment. Unless, of course, your idea of progressive is shared by the Tea Party.

Your progressive trope is empirically false.

[RomneyLies]

14. Then you are robbing other companies that hire hard working Americans but don't

manufacture guns.

Lots of investment choices out there and there are not many publicly traded gun companies.

[Llewlladdwr]

19. Am I also robbing the other grocery store chains in my area that I don't patronize? nt

[BainsBane]

22. a big Walmart shopper too, are you?

Most guns are imported, just like everything else.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

26. As long that they comply with their fiduciary duty, sure