| Dear Katy, On May 9, we've got another chance to show that we are more powerful than the NRA. That's the day Sturm Ruger, the country's largest gun manufacturer, will hold its annual shareholder meeting. And that's the day we can help get Sandra Froman, a long-time leader of the NRA, off the Sturm Ruger board of directors. Froman, who has been an NRA board member since 1992, is in a prime position to advance the NRA's extremist "guns everywhere" agenda at Sturm Ruger. That means shutting down efforts to increase gun safety or support for gun control. Company executives see allegiance with the NRA as key to their bottom line, so they won't make change on their own. But together, we can demand that major investors vote against re-electing Froman — and the NRA — to the Sturm Ruger board. Tell BlackRock, Vanguard and other major fund managers: Get the NRA out of Sturm Ruger's boardroom. Click here to sign the petition. BlackRock and Vanguard are major shareholders in the most prominent gun manufacturers.1 They have been able to make massive amounts of money off of gun sales without lifting a finger to end the culture of death in America. We can help make sure that stops. More than 140,000 CREDO members have already joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren in asking investors to use their financial power and power as shareholders to force gun makers to make change. Under pressure after Parkland – as corporations dropped their partnerships with the NRA and large retailers and banks supported gun reform – some investors said they would also do better.2,3 Now they have a chance to show those weren't empty promises. Tell BlackRock, Vanguard and other major fund managers: Get the NRA out of Sturm Ruger's boardroom. Click here to sign the petition. The pressure on companies to tow the NRA's line is intense. In 1999, after the Columbine shooting, the Clinton administration sued manufacturers for the violence committed with their products. Smith & Wesson agreed to a settlement to develop child-safe triggers and safer "smart" guns and to block dealers from selling guns to criminals.4 The NRA went on the attack — trying to destroy Smith & Wesson and keep other gun makers from joining the settlement. After death threats, boycotts, lay-offs, near bankruptcy and the firing of Smith & Wesson's CEO, the changes agreed to in the settlement were never made. In 2013, Smith & Wesson's current CEO James Debney, was inducted into the NRA's Golden Ring of Freedom for donating more than 1 million dollars to the NRA.5 In February, a Smith & Wesson AR-15 was used to commit the Parkland massacre. We will never end our gun violence epidemic if we can't break corporations' allegiance to the NRA. And neither side will let go without a fight. Right now, investors in gun companies have to decide whether they are going to be part of the problem or part of the solution. In May, they have a chance to show where they stand. That's why we're joining with our friends at SumOfUs and Majority Action to demand that investors use their shareholder proxies to vote against Sandra Froman's re-election to the Sturm Ruger board. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/NRA_SturmRuger?t=8&akid=28436%2E12967895%2ExziyWI Thank you for helping stand up to the NRA, Heidi Hess, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Reshma Kapadia, "Big Investors in Gun Companies Weigh In on Violence," Barron's, Feb. 22, 2018.
- Adam Shell, "Amalgamated Bank pressures Sturm, Ruger to take steps to reduce gun violence," USA Today, April 20, 2018.
- Liz Moyer, "BlackRock says it's time to take action on guns, may use voting power to influence," CNBC, March 2, 2018.
- Avi Selk, "A gunmaker once tried to reform itself. The NRA nearly destroyed it." The Washington Post, Feb. 27, 2018.
- Michael Daly, "He Made the Gun That Slaughtered Parkland's Kids," The Daily Beast, Feb. 24, 2018.
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