New York City Considers Divesting From Walmart Over Gun Sales

[SecularMotion]

NEW YORK -- New York City may divest hundreds of millions of dollars from Walmart and other big-name stores that sell guns and ammunition less than two years after it yanked investments in the country's biggest gun manufacturers.

Trustees for the New York City Employees Retirement System, or NYCERS, one of the largest U.S. pension funds with more than 300,000 active members, passed a resolution this week to study the impact of selling its shares in major gun retailers, including Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Cabela's.

“Our nation is bleeding from gun violence, and we cannot and should not bolster the gun retailers whose weapons are used to kill and maim our citizens,” Public Advocate Letitia James, who introduced the resolution, said in a statement.

"Our public money must not be invested in companies that fundamentally undermine our public safety," James continued. "We need to study the potential consequences and risks of continuing to own equity and fixed income holdings in gun retailers, whose weapons and ammunition reach the streets, towns and cities across our country.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-york-walmart-divest-gun_55bbb7e5e4b0b23e3ce2aa03

[the band leader]

1. will they also divest themselves from the pharmaceutical industries?

you know, since prescription drugs kill twice as many people as gun violence and have lead to a nationwide heroin addiction epidemic.

Heck, there were 1848 overdose deaths (pdf file) in New York in 2012 compared to 436 gun homicides.

Tell me again how guns are the most pressing problem New York City faces here.


Heroin is making a comeback in New York City, with fatal overdoses outnumbering homicides

[OakCliffDem]

2. What investments does SecularMotion advocate NYC make now?

How about a premium stock buy in the Huffington Post?

[Duckhunter935]

3. I guess they should divest

from , drug, beer, alcohol and cell phone investments also. They kill and injure many more than firearms.

[DashOneBravo]

4. I think it would be interesting

To see if they are invested in the defense industry.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. It's all about...

..."purity".

[virginia mountainman]

13. LOL.....nt

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

14. ~~~

[DashOneBravo]

15. True but they seem

To be somewhat short sighted at times. I'm sure they mean well.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

18. "Good intentions will always be pleaded...

...for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters." - Daniel Webster

How many gang-on-gang drive-by shootings had consequences other what was "meant"?

[DashOneBravo]

20. That's an excellent quote

I need to start adding "sarcasm"

This is the same people who are running off Remington. Union jobs.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

21. Most of what I can think of to say about most anything...

...has already been said much better by someone else. In fact I have a story.

From the mid 1800s until his death in 1865 Edward Everett was one of the most charismatic and popular speakers in the US. People would come and listen to him speak sometimes for hours. His resume read like senior statesman by any measure. He was a governor, ambassador, senator and secretary of state. He began his speaking career in 1812 as a minister.

On the occasion of the Gettysburg Dedication in 1863 Mr. Everett spoke and the crowd followed his words for about 2 hours. After he finished President Lincoln took the platform and spoke for a few minutes. Soon after the speeches the crowds dispersed. In written correspondence over the next few days Lincoln expressed to Everett that he felt that what was to become the Gettysburg Address had been a flat and uninspiring failure. Everett wrote back, "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett

BTW, I hated history in school.

[beergood]

6. why is the 1% always trying to disarm the 99%?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

7. Because...

...we are below them. The 1% will investigate and probe who they hire as bodyguards and spare no expense to find those beyond reproach, loyal to a fault and trained to the max. With those standards, why trust the rest of us?

They may not even trust themselves. Since they advocate mostly either may issue or non-issue, their default is trust no one. No one who hasn't been properly and completely investigated, referenced, trained has a valid reason to be carrying. They're like the CIA; they're in the suspicion business.

[beergood]

10. agree

somewhat. they always try to classify my pump action shotgun and my bolt action mosin as military style weapons. this is why i do not trust them.

however i do support gun control.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

12. I'm fine with that but~

Last edited Mon Aug 3, 2015, 11:06 AM - Edit history (1)

There are 2 things about gun control that most people don't talk about. First, control is a myth. We don't have murder control; we don't have arson control; we don't even have speed control on the highway. Second, mostly what gun control does for us is to allow the law abiding majority to absolve themselves of any relation to any guilt. It's good to be able to say, "I didn't kill the guy." It's good to be able to say, "I didn't order the guy killed." It's good to be able to say, "I didn't sell the killer the weapon." Best of all, we can feel morally superior by being able to say, "I supported a law that was aimed at preventing criminals from getting guns that they could use to kill."

We are now all part of the experiment known as gun control. It's a bit disheartening that we'll never really know for absolute sure if gun control works. I'm not suggesting we dismantle and drop all those laws and database checks but if you consider the spectrum of souls from near angelic to the vicious sociopaths that would eat their own children, for which ones out there do have some measures in place that offer good assurance that they can't get a gun and kill?

And a great philosophical question to ask is: How should we measure success?

[ileus]

17. It's what they do...it's who they are. They profit from victims...

[Eleanors38]

8. Divesting of Remington, a home-grown, unionized company? Making room for Gold Sacks?

[virgogal]

9. This is a classic grandstand play.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

11. Elsewhere Wal-Mart is being held up as exemplary for refusing sales until a BGC is completed.

Even if it takes longer than 3 days. It sounds like the NYCERS is making it pointless to appease Controllers.

Exit question -- I wonder of any of the people responsible for adopting this divestment policy own firearms or live in protected communities?

[ileus]

16. Wonder if these dunces have any idea walturd doesn't sell handguns???

What a bunch of idiots.

[benEzra]

19. New York reported 648 murders in 2013. Rifles were involved in *4* of them.

Yes, four. Shotguns accounted for another 19.

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-20/table_20_murder_by_state_types_of_weapons_2013.xls

Tell me again how Walmart selling rifles and shotguns is such an existential threat to New York.