Newtown Action Alliance Applauds Bank of America for Commitment to Stop Financing Gun Companies That Manufacture Military-style Assault Weapons
For Immediate Release
April 12, 2018
Press Contact:
John Kelley
917-679-6475
jkelley@newtownaction.org
Newtown Action Alliance Applauds Bank of America for Commitment to Stop Financing Gun Companies That Manufacture Military-style Assault Weapons
Other Investors Are Encouraged to Join Bank of America
NEWTOWN, CT -The Newtown Action Alliance applauds and thanks Bank of America Corp. for making a commitment to no longer lend money to gun companies that manufacture military-style assault weapons for civilian use in an effort to help reduce the number of mass shootings in America.
Newtown Action Alliance implores Black Rock, Vanguard Group, Fidelity Investments, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, TD Securities, JPMorgan Chase & Co, State Street, Voya, Invesco, LSV Asset Management, Dimensional Fund Advisors, London Company of Virginia, First Eagle Management Company and other financial groups to join Bank of America and stop lending money and investing in Sturm Ruger & Company, American Outdoors Brands Corporations (Smith & Wesson), Vista Outdoors and other gun companies that manufacture weapons of war for civilian use.
Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance, stated: “There has been federal inaction on regulating weapons of war since 20 children and six educators were brutally murdered by a gunman with an AR-15 and high capacity magazines at Sandy Hook. But the corporate response to the heartbreaking Parkland shooting gives us hope that we will be able to significantly reduce mass shootings and everyday gun violence in the future. When corporations make responsible decisions for public safety, the public sentiment will continue to shift and eventually smart gun policies will follow. In the five years since the Sandy Hook tragedy, we have met too many families directly impacted by civilian use of weapons of war. We are willing to facilitate a meeting between these family members and any corporate leaders.”
Since the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, there have been more and more devastating mass shooting incidents where a gunman used a military-style assault weapon to brutally and senselessly gun down innocent children, women and men in schools, movie theaters, churches, concert venues and nightclubs:
12 killed, 70 wounded: July 20, 2012, Aurora, Colorado
26 killed: December 14, 2012, Newtown, Connecticut
14 killed: December 2, 2015, San Bernardino, California
49 killed, 58 wounded: June 12, 2016, Orlando, Florida
58 killed, 500 wounded: October 1, 2017, Las Vegas, Nevada
26 killed: November 5, 2017, Sutherland Springs, Texas
17 killed, 15 wounded: February 14, 2018, Parkland, Florida
Congress has failed to pass a federal ban on assault weapons. However, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have taken steps to ban assault weapons on the state level.
Since the Parkland shooting, many U.S. corporations have stepped up to do their part to end gun violence in our nation.
We thank Dick's Sporting Goods, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, First National, Bank of Omaha, Allied Van Lines, North American Van Lines, Avis Budget Group, The Hertz Corporation, Alamo, Enterprise, National, Starkey Hearing Technologies, MetLife, Chubb Insurance, TrueCar, Simplisafe, Symantec, Paramount Rx Inc., REI, Kroger, Walmart, L.L. Bean, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Best Western Hotels and Resorts, Wyndam Worldwide Corp, LifeLock, Lockton Companies, Wild Apricot, Personify, Teladoc, Republic Bancorp Inc., Securian Financial Group, and Citibank for taking steps to make our country safer.
The list of responsible corporate actions since the Parkland shooting can be found HERE.
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Newtown Action Alliance (http://alliance.newtownaction.org/) is a Newtown-based, national grassroots organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Our mission is to achieve the steady and continuous reduction of gun violence through legislative and cultural changes.