Divest from gun companies

[BainsBane]

If you have a 401k, 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. One power in this country is absolute-- money. Institutional investors, like universities and school districts, are the biggest investors on Wall Street. You have more financial power than you realize. Use it!

[ReRe]

1. K&R...

...to keep this going... There is power in numbers! Numbers of people who can divest from gun manufacturers. Make those appts and get this done as speedily as possible! There are more ways than one to skin a cat!

[BainsBane]

2. thanks!

[Hoyt]

3. I hope more pension plans and funds get pressure on this

[hack89]

4. And beer brewers too.

lets make America safer in general.

[BainsBane]

6. You can't stand the fact

Anyone wants to make the world a better place, can you? This has nothing to do with your second amendment rights, but good of you to point out what your real motives are. Is there no point at which carrying the water for gun companies gets old? Do you ever think maybe I should think about humanity rather than corporate profits?

[hack89]

8. I support many of Joe Biden's gun control measures

I want to make the world a better place - I just have different solutions then you. You fixate on pieces of metal. I focus on people's behavior and actions - I think fixing root causes will do more than a quixotic quest to remove guns from America.

Single payer health care and focusing the justice system on violent criminals will do more to save lives then anything you are proposing.

[BainsBane]

10. malarkey

You shit on progressive activism, even when it has nothing to do with your own stockpile of WMD. You have made crystal clear exactly what you are. Your unyielding defense of corporate profits above human life says enough. This is the result of the pieces of metal that mean so much more to you than human beings. http://www.google.com/search?q=sandy+hook+funerals&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uIP1ULOtCojO2wWD5YCIDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=690

Here's wishing you karma. If the Buddists are right, you can't escape it anyway.

[hack89]

13. Yet I bet you and I see eye to eye on many progressive issues

like abortion, marriage equality, health care, social entitlements, unions, voting reform. It is unfortunately that you are completely unable to accept the idea of pro-gun Democrats. But that says much more about you than it does about me.

I am not worried about karma - while not perfect like you, I have done more good than bad in my life.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. As long as they do not breach their fiduciary duty, sure

However, depending on how their FYs are laid out, waiting a little while may be best.

[BainsBane]

7. What?

We have every right to make our voices heard now, today and every single day.

[hack89]

9. And pension plan managers have to obey the law.

they have to divest without causing financial harm to their clients.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. Yes we do, and pensions plans have a fiduciary duty, today and every single day

[BainsBane]

15. Their duty is to their customers

Which is why individual voices matter. It's like the South African divestiture movement. One can choose to subsidize social injustice and mass violence or find other ways to make money. It's a question of who and what one chooses to be in life.

As consumers, we all contribute to ongoing exploitation around the world. But we can draw certain limits. I don't buy goods made with child labor because I will not have a hand in that extreme level of exploitation. I will not buy or use illegal drugs because I do not wish to be part of the horrific violence that accompanies drug trafficking. Guns are similarly bloody, despite their legality. Apartheid was also legal. That did not make it just.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. Why don't you look up fiduciary duty and try again

[BainsBane]

19. you are consistently insulting

Evidently it makes you feel important. From my point of view, it makes you look small.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. I don't deal with fools well, never have

When you post nonsense, you get called on it. Its called a discussion board for a reason. As for insulting...PKB

Mutual funds, pensions, etc have a fiduciary duty to their members/owners. It matters. This might help: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2165386

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. There's This...

I'm not making any financial recommendations here, but it's a place to start looking with regard to your personal investments:

5 Mutual Funds for Socially Responsible Investors

In the world of investing, conscience, it seems, costs nothing. You can have your do-gooder cake and eat it, too. Consider iShares MSCI USA ESG Select Index (symbol KLD), an exchange-traded fund that tracks an index of companies that it says follow high “environmental, social and governance” standards. Over the past five years, the fund returned an annualized 2.3%, compared with 1.7% for Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. Calvert Equity Fund (CSIEX), one of the largest and oldest funds in the sphere of socially responsible investing, or SRI, gained 6.9% annualized over the past 15 years, compared with 5.5% for the S&P. Not all SRI funds beat the index, but it is remarkable how closely most of them track the market as a whole (returns are through March 9; funds in boldface are ones I recommend).

Link

Note that not every socially responsible fund has divested itself of firearms manufacturers, but I'm sure that most have done so. Many refuse to invest in defense industries, and I would assume that the manufacturers of small arms would be included.

[BainsBane]

12. Good idea

Thank you for the suggestion. Everyone can look at their own fund choices for similar, socially responsible funds.

[Recursion]

16. How many are publicly held? (nt)

[BainsBane]

17. I don't know

But they do form part of mutual funds, and organizations around the country are making a point of divesting from them. It's a HUGE industry.

[ancianita]

21. Ruger and Smith & Wesson

e: http://www.guns.com/2012/10/10/top-25-us-gun-manufacturers/

[Sunlei]

22. I don't know if people want to let go of their walmart stock yet, maybe if it starts to drop.

Think that stock has gone up, up, up, along with their gun sales. Walmart is the largest gun dealer in America.

[BainsBane]

23. good point to include Walmart

as a gun vendor. There are many, many reasons not to hold Walmart stock. Guns are one more.