You’d think Rahm Emanuel would have got the memo (STFU) after critics took the Chicago Mayor to task for demanding that Bank of America and TD bank divest their holdings in Smith & Wesson and Ruger. You’d think the introduction of a carry bill that will finally restore Illinois’ citizens’ Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms (including those living in his fiefdom) would inspire him to kick back for a bit. Nope. Yesterday, Hizzoner called for mutual funds to “divest and blacklist any gun manufacturers that oppose commonsense gun reforms.” At the risk of seeming indelicate, who does this jumped-up little prick think he is? Certainly not a public servant; it’s not the job of a politician to tell banks and mutual funds how to invest their money to satisfy his unconstitutional agenda. It reminds of the lyric, “for you girl, there’s just not enough love in the world.” Read the full press release after the jump . . .
Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he is asking several mutual funds to divest and blacklist any gun manufacturers that oppose commonsense gun reforms. The Mayor’s letters sent to the mutual funds today come on the heels of his request last week to commercial banks asking them to stop providing financial services to gun companies that stand in the way of reform.
“Just like the banks and pension funds, I believe that these Mutual Funds can exert an enormous amount of influence by taking a stand against gun manufacturers that continue to refuse to support commonsense reforms like required background checks and an assault weapons ban. The time is now for everyone to do anything they can to stop these military-style guns and magazines from ending up on the street and putting families, children and police officers at risk,” said Mayor Emanuel. “This has to be about doing what is morally right and not what is financially beneficial to their bottom lines.”
Mayor Emanuel is sending a letter today to the chief executives of Allianz, BlackRock, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Vanguard, James Investment Research and Capital World Investments. All of the funds own stock of gun manufacturers who are actively lobbying against safety reforms. The mayor is asking the mutual funds to divest from these companies until they support these reforms.
The Mayor’s latest request complements other actions he has recently taken, including encouraging city leaders from the across country to divest from companies that manufacture or sell assault weapons. Mayor Emanuel has also introduced an ordinance to strengthen Chicago’s gun laws and is supporting state and federal safety legislation.
Earlier this month, Mayor Emanuel ordered a portfolio analysis from the five pension and retirement funds for Chicago employees to determine if fund managers hold underlying debt or equity positions in companies that manufacture or sell assault weapons as the first step towards removing these companies from the investment plans. This week, the Chicago Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund (MEABF) board voted to divest more than $1 million from three companies that manufacture assault weapons – Freedom Group, Smith and Wesson and Sturm Ruger. Other cities, including Los Angeles and Philadelphia have followed suit.
The Mayor called on Chicago’s sister agencies – the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago Park District – to conduct the same review. The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF), which has $9.5 billion in assets, already voted to divest its investments with gun manufacturing companies.
“…after a high-profile news event unfolds the public needs journalism that separates truth from fiction.”
THIS. +100
The news media in this country is all about sensational entertainment. News, not truth; rumor, not fact. If it’s new, it runs nonstop until it’s not new, at which point it’s dumped for the next 24/7 sensation.
They’re giving the public what it wants, but nothing that it needs.
If any Mutual funds pull out I will move my money to those that don’t. Period.
Thanks
Robert
Just goes to show you. The democratic will of the people will not be applied to gun legislation.
Even within his gun-prohibitionist view of the world, what he is doing makes no sense.
Gun manufacturers make arms for the law enforcement and military too, i.e. those groups he deems “suitable” to have them.
It isn’t just magazines. I had a claw mount for HK-94/MP5/SP89 & clones removed because copied the description from the manufactures website.
RRages had the exact thing listed w/o all the scary weapon names. So I clicked sell similar and it stole their listing and sold w/o any problem. Serious case of “lalalala, I CANT HEAR YOU SELLING ASSAULT WEAPON PARTS”
It’s the start of the Black Market
Another politician who, through his corruption, reminds us why the 2A is so important.
“gun manufacturers that oppose commonsense gun reforms.”
oppose commonsense gun reforms
commonsense
where did this word come from all of a sudden?
If only the White House walls could speak. America has gone from Bill and Monica to Barack and Rahm.
This is nothing new. eBay has had strict firearms-related parts regulations for a long time (including banning pictures of actual guns, which is why you’ll see blue plastic guns in all ads for things like holsters), as has PayPal (which is owned by eBay). If PP finds out you’re using them for anything gun-related, they are likely to block your account.
There are plenty of restrictions on other things as well, such as automatic knives. I tried to sell a folding, automatic-opening Microtech on there and they took it down and pointed me to the policy prohibiting that sort of thing.
I connected 60+ times at O’Hare May 2011 to September 2012. Since September I’m connecting in Minneapolis at no real difference in price and maybe 30 more minutes to my destinations on average. Usually ate an overpriced meal at O’Hare and tipped well.
Cancelled plans to take the wife there for a few days of shopping and museum-ing. The less I spend in that tin pot dictator’s fiefdom the better. I’m not likely to boycott companies that cave to that stupid, stupid little man but will boycott Chicago.
In the same light, considering how many innocent people are killed by drunk drivers, perhaps those same funds should stop supporting the manufacturers of alcoholic bevrages.
And the automobile manufacturers! 🙂
The press release didn’t say anything about donating the “blood-money” from the profits made from these unholy companies to victims of gun violence. Interesting. Obviously he can’t put ALL his (everyone else’s) money where his mouth is.
Quote: “…who does this jumped-up little prick think he is?”
You give him way too much credit, RF
More like: “jumped-up little ballerina queen”!
I don’t understand why the whole thing has been sealed, like we are a bunch of fragile children that need to be protected from evil, we MUST see the evidence, I can handle it, I’m a big boy and if someone can’t, well they can not evaluate it then. No biggie but for us to learn from this event, must see the evidence.
Rham thinks he is King, one day he wants to run for President so he can be “God”.
Maybe if Rham spent more time looking for a new Chief of Police and less time writing letters Chicago wouldn’t have the highest Homicide total for January in more than 10 years. At this rate Chicago could hit 600-700 homicides this year if things keep up.
I can dig Hip Hop D. This old fu.ckin white guy can really get down, well..not really. I do love to dance though, its a great time tearing up the floor with the ladies at the nightclub. Heavy D is no longer with us, I’m glad you are here, Randy
So, not only does Mr. Emanuel not understand guns, he clearly doesn’t understand finances either. I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible. If the holdings in the gun manufacturing companies are common stock, then who owns the stock and how much they paid for it has NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on the bottom line of the company. To put it simply, the price of the stock is a reflection of the projected net earnings of the company. Buying stock in Ruger does not help Ruger’s bottom line. Now, if he framed the argument that he didn’t want anyone profiting from the profits of these companies (i.e. selling high), then that might make more sense. What he doesn’t understand, though, is that unless the company is relying on huge amounts of bonds and other debt securities, your divestment doesn’t do a darn thing to impact them. Even if your investment in one of those companies is bond heavy, it doesn’t matter to the company if you do sell because the bond has already been issued and they will continue to pay the interest and will settle the bond upon its maturation. The only way investors could put pressure on the company would be in refusing to buy bonds and other debt securities from them and that is only if they need to issue bonds to raise capital to begin with. Does Mr. Emanuel really not understand that when you buy stock in a company on the open exchange and not as part of a public offering, that the company doesn’t get the money? The reality is, Mr. Emanuel should understand that the greatest influence that investors could have on the company is by voting and changing the leadership of the company.
So, I say let all the pro-gun control crowd get out of their investments in these companies. That is less votes that could sway the focus of the company.
It’s amazing reading the behavior of the people that were elected and supposedly are servants of the people. Clearly I don’t recall any of them in their campaigning speeches that they were hell bent on subverting the rights of those same people.
If you didn’t believe in the 2A vs tyranny before, and couldn’t imagine your gov’t becoming that way, I think it’s pretty clear that King Obama and Princes’ Rahm and Cuomo are making it pretty obvious what their plan is. Seems like the AR-15 and Surefire flashlight are destined to become the modern day pitchfork and torch. F’ Obama and the horse he rode in on.
I see that I have a homework assignment for tonight.
My initial reaction is that this looks like it’s intended to be building blocks for putting together written editorials and press releases to be published online. Is that what you’re optimizing for, or is the intent to work up concise statements that would work well when delivered as verbal testimony?
I’m highly skeptical of the 2 million number. It’s been fisked as far as I’m concerned. The lowest estimate, based on the National Crime Victimization Survey, was that in a given year 108,000 people (that we know of) defend themselves with firearms. If just ten percent of those people prevented a murder then that’s 10,800 lives saved, which is pretty significant IMO.
http://home.uchicago.edu/~ludwigj/papers/JQC-CookLudwig-DefensiveGunUses-1998.pdf
Now take the 2 million number. Suppose that 10% of the alleged 2 million prevented a murder. That’s 200,000 murders prevented. Even if it was just 1% that would be 20,000 murders prevented. That’s way too high. We are not experiencing some crazy crime wave.
Also, just a suggestion, but remove the stuff about drunk driving. Stay on topic.
I’m glad rahm is in the National Bureau of Standards for “common sense”. Common sense just does not seem to dictate to old rahm that this Chicago thing, really isn’t working. I didn’t think anyone could hop up & down on his tongue, Imagine my surprise, Randy
I too am in love… With an M&P9. And my wife. Thanks for sharing!
Message for SnJohnson… “Please call your wife. She would like to discuss why you mentioned the M&P9 before you mentioned her. Again.”
Im sure there are days she loves his M&P9 more than him too lol
Ok let me get this straight..
You are asking financial institutions to do the following.
Drop, divest, tell FOAD, to the best financial investments in the history of the US?
Mec-Gar can’t even keep stock and I am sure they are working round the clock.
Franklin Armory, Colt, Remington, Ruger, etc etc, all of these companies have dumped the volume purchasing discounts, probably, and are running production as fast as their forgeries and CNC milling stations can go, and you are asking them to walk away?? Their back orders are piling up like letters to Santa at the USPS in November, and you want them to dump their stocks?
That is some special kind of stupid right there Mr. Emanuel..
I don’t see us as losing the PR war. I think all the polling data shows that support for our Second Amendment rights remains strong. What are seeing in the MSM is a concerted propaganda campaign on behalf of the White House. We are never going to win that battle since the MSM has become little more than the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.
The White House has backed away from the issue precisely because it is a loser in the short run and they must change the topic in preparation for the 2014 elections. That is where the real battle is going to won or lost and it will be fought on other grounds than the Second Amendment.
The “defeats” we are witnessing today are happening in deep blue states. These are places where we cannot win anyway. Sometimes you have to right off your losses. Remember he would defends everywhere defends nothing.
PTSD…..
Yes, it’s real.
And, yes, Sandy Hook was a horrific tragedy and the scene no doubt gruesome.
But honestly…..
Have we become so soft of a nation that cops and other first responders are not expected to steel themselves against such things?
We want them to be human, but for sh!t’s sake, you don’t become a zoo worker if you can’t handle animal crap…..
Different people are different. As a veteran, I’ve known many people who’ve had to deal with PTSD. The only thing they shared in common was exposure to, or involvement in traumatic events. Putting on a uniform doesn’t desensitize a person to violence, nor does it signal that the individual will not have a negative psychological reaction to it after the fact.
Training can help a person function effectively during a traumatic event, but no amount of training or preparation can prevent someone from being mentally effected by the event once it is over. Repeated exposure can lead to desensitization and detachment… this was often referred to as the “thousand yard stare” in WWII, and is a byproduct of PTSD.
The cops mentioned above are unlikely to have ever been exposed to the level of destructive violence exhibited that day. The problem is magnified by the age of the victims, as violence against children is particularly abhorrent in our society. as such, the claims of PTSD among the responding officers is understandable.
Finally, the “man-up an deal with it” attitude is inappropriate, and is a contributing factor to the rising rate of suicides amongst veterans. It may work for a few, but again, different people are different. There is no one-size fits all, or even most, solution for problems stemming from the human psyche.
I saw someone die at work recently. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have PTSD, but it was definitely a terrible experience. That person was an adult, the memory of his death and others are still with me, and not in a peaceful way. I’ve never seen a child die, or recently dead in front of me, and I pray that I never do. This is not an “animal crap” experience. It is a glimpse of the darkest form of form of the human condition.
Here also is a dark thought: the possibility exists that lives could have been saved if the officers had immediately entered the school instead of searching outside. We’re tactical errors made? Did searching in the wrong location cost lives? We are looking for these answers, but such things are not easily found when lives are at stake. Honestly I wish that they were, because we deserve to know the truth. As Ralph and Alpha have said, it will take lawyers to expose the truth.
“223 Million Firearms in the US are Used Safely”
And I bet there were 5.56 mmillion more purchased this month.
Just sayn’
Good to see nice ladies join us good to see you.
The mayor even looks like a fascist PIG!
Thank you Rabbi,
I will be posting this to the GRAA, and getting folks to chime in on how to make it better.
And in return gun makers should refuse to sell the CPD firearms or ammo.
I have invested in a tin foil cup for my man bits because my wife says that’s where my brain is.
*THIS COMMENT DELETED*
Sincerely, B.O.
If you have an open mind, and you don’t predispose yourself to hating NPR for no reason, you’ll find that they have the best news coverage in the business. Much more thoughtful and balanced than anything you’ll find on TV.
NPR’s “Weekends on All Things Considered” podcast had a special edition episode called “Tragedy in Newtown” which was released on December 16th. Even in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, they presented a balanced (fairly equal time to both sides) discussion of gun control. This included an interview with someone arguing that bans on specific weapons are pointless in preventing mass killings. You can download the podcast on iTunes.
I am a hard line constitutionalist libertarian, and I was a listener for many years. I tune in less now than I did a couple of years ago; things have changed somewhat since they took on their new leader, Knell, and the bias is more apparent than it once was. Too much of their coverage is soft and unimportant, and they let all politicians off too easy. Where’s The Fast and Furious exposé? Still, NPR does have less bombastic rhetoric and more analysis than other sources- that good vocabulary makes for a siren’s song, though.
I heard an interview on the Fiscal Cliff with an economist at the end of December that had some great points, but played the tired old, ‘but the republicans won’t compromise’ schtick a little too much. At the end, unprompted, the economist blurted out, ‘but we have much more serious problems to deal with, like getting a handle on gun control.’ It’s hard to call that an unbiased source, for sure, and some of their willfully uninformed representations have been downright irresponsible- ‘gun violence,’ ‘assault weapon,’ and similar phrases have no place in responsible journalism.
The Seattle Times has a staff columnist named Danny Westneat who has used the nickname “Liberty Man” as a nickname/strawman for the position that ultimately, you’re on your own. It’s popped up when he’s discussed health insurance and again in a column about Sandy Hook. He intends it as a caricature, but here’s the thing: in self-defense scenarios, you are on your own, in all meaningful regards. Unless you happen to be accompanied by bodyguards (and sometimes not even then), it’s up to you to respond, and whether you survive or not is in your hands.
I find it interesting that the media and the anti-gun people keep going to the “what gun owners fear” well, because in my dealings with my fellow gun owners, I’ve found them to have a fairly low level of fear. Fear is a reaction for that which is unknown, or for which you feel unprepared, or which you feel you need to control, but can’t. Gun owners, for the most part, aren’t living in that headspace. They’ve moved beyond that and are taking steps to reduce their vulnerability. Criminals and the possibility of being a victim of crime exist, so one looks at what works to reduce the risk of victimization. You lock your doors, you get an alarm, you pay attention to your surroundings, and you get firearms and learn to use them.
I feel a lot of fear coming from the other side, though. You hear them talking about “the right to safety” and realize that’s a concept driven entirely by fear, and the need to keep fear at bay. You see the proposals out there, and hear people admit that they’ll do nothing, but that “something must be done”, and again, it’s all about fear. They feel like if they can just get a little more control over people, then people will be “better” and we’ll all be safer, and they won’t have to be afraid any more.