Content warning: This article contains discussions of gun violence and school shootings, which may be distressing to some readers. Please take care while reading.
“Please Help. I Don’t Want to Die.” —
BY JUDY BYRON, OP
Ikept my students safe by conducting fire and earthquake drills: Lock downs weren’t in my teacher’s toolkit.
I didn’t have students bringing packets of ketchup with their school supplies, as I recently heard about one little girl doing. If a shooter came to her classroom, she wanted to be prepared to spread ketchup on herself and her friends so that the shooter would think that they were dead.
Everytown for Gun Safety reports that every day, 125 people in the United States are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded.1 Since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death among children ages 1 to 17.2 When motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of death for children, we changed that statistic by mandating seat belts, air bags, car seats, and driver education. Can we change the statistic on children and firearms?
Faith based investors think we can. In 2017, the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment (NWCRI), along with a group of colleagues from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), joined a growing number of public health experts, gun owners, state and city governments, and citizens in seeking solutions to gun violence.
We purchased stock in firearm manufacturers such as American Outdoor Brands (Smith & Wesson), Sturm Ruger, and Dick’s Sporting Goods with the goal of engaging these companies regarding the positive role they can play in ending the epidemic of gun violence.
We wrote letters to the companies to raise our concerns and to request dialogue. When none of the companies responded, we filed shareholder resolutions with the manufacturers in early January 2018 “requesting a report on the company’s activities related to gun safety measures and the mitigation of harm associated with gun products.”
The Dick’s Sporting Goods resolution, filed in December 2018, requested a “report on actions our Company has taken on elements such as those based on Sandy Hook Principles,” including measures designed to curb gun violence such as background checks, technology to enhance the safety of guns, and gun safety education at point of sale. The company, including chief executive officer Ed Stack, dialogued with us regarding the actions the company was taking. We were convinced that management was taking steps to reduce gun violence, so we withdrew our resolution.
1 “EveryStat,” Everytown for Gun Safety, accessed March 14, 2025, https://bit.ly/EveryStat-gun-violence-impact
2 Villarreal, S., Kim, R., Wagner, E., et al., Gun Violence in the United States 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Teens (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, 2024), https://bit.ly/Gun-Violence-in-the-United-States-2022
Uvalde survivor
Gun Safety Committee panel with Giffords Law Center, Guns Down America and Sandy and Lonnie Phillips whose daughter Jessie was killed in the Aurora Theatre in 2012.
We had not heard from the manufacturers when the tragedy in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day 2018 ignited a youth movement that had the potential to address gun violence in our country. Yet the manufacturers of firearms remained on the sidelines even as their largest investor, BlackRock, publicly urged the companies to address gun safety with questions identical to those in our shareholder resolution.
At the Sturm Ruger annual meeting on May 9, 2019, a majority of shareholders—69 percent—made it perfectly clear that they wanted the company to take seriously the social impact of its business and that gun safety is a significant and growing social issue. Chief executive officer Christopher Killoy’s response to the vote was: “The proposal requires Ruger to prepare a report. That’s it: a report… What the proposal does not and cannot do is force us to change our business, which is lawful and constitutionally protected.”
Our resolution and dialogue with Dick’s Sporting Goods, however, did result in the company changing its business. On February 28, 2018, Dick’s announced that the company would no longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 or sell assault-style weapons and high capacity magazines. Stack ended his media release saying, “We deeply believe that this country’s most precious gift is our children. They are our future. We must keep them safe.”
Four years later, on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the teachers and students knew what to do when confronted with a mass shooter, yet 19 children and two teachers did not survive. Today, compelled by the 10-yearold girl who survived and pleaded with the 911 operator, “Please help. I don’t want to die,” NWCRI and our colleagues continue to press firearms manufacturers to help end gun violence.