Ethical Investing in Gun Manufacturers
Resolution text
Resolved, That Executive Council, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama receives the June 2019 report (the Report) of its Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR) responding to the direction in resolution B007 Ethical Investing in Gun Manufacturers (GC2018) that “the Executive Council Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility…develop and implement a shareholder engagement plan” for investing in “gun manufacturers and retailers” in order to engage with them on gun safety; and be it further
Resolved, That Executive Council acknowledges and approves the plan (summarized below), which calls for the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society to invest in publicly traded securities of gun manufacturers and to work with other investors to engage with such companies to promote gun safety; and be it further
Resolved, That Executive Council, in order to enable CCSR to implement the plan, acknowledges and approves the purchase of stock in American Outdoor Brands, Olin Corporation and Sturm, Ruger and Co.
The Report states the plan as follows:
Shareholder Engagement Plan for Ethical Investing in Gun Manufacturers
- DFMS will invest in stock of American Outdoor Brands, Olin Corporation and Sturm, Ruger and Co. These publicly traded companies are known to be engaged in the gun manufacturing or ammunition businesses.
- CCSR should work with other investors to engage in shareholder advocacy with these publicly traded companies in order to further gun safety.
- CCSR, as it determines appropriate, should seek to apply the Mosbacher-Bennett Principles for Investors in the Gun Industry developed by Do Not Stand Idly By as commended to the Church by General Convention in B007.
- CCSR should evaluate whether to invest in any other publicly traded U.S. companies in gun-related industries in order to advocate for gun safety, and
- CCSR should conduct advocacy for gun safety with companies in other industries (e.g., financial institutions) which may be in the DFMS portfolio and recommend appropriate shareholder action regarding any such company