A majority of shareholders of Sturm Ruger voted for the company to hire an outside consultant to study the “human rights” impact of the guns it sells — but with the manufacturer giving no immediate indication whether it will comply with the vote nonbinding.
Ruger shares did not move significantly following the Wednesday vote, trading Friday at just below $70. Ruger stock hit an all-time high of $87.55 in August 2020, as gun sales surged that summer amid protests nationally after the death of George Floyd while being arrested in Minneapolis.
Activists have rallied in the past few weeks for more effective gun control measures, after last month’s school massacre in Uvalde, Texas. The assailant had bought military-style rifles from a Georgia-based manufacturer called Daniel Defense, which has pledged to cooperate with investigators.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have been vocal proponents for gun control, with Blumenthal signaling plans to attend a demonstration in Newtown Friday evening to mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Ruger has its headquarters in Fairfield as one of the two largest gun makers selling to the mass retail market, along with Smith & Wesson. Ruger has factories in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Arizona, with a workforce totaling about 1,900 people.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Ruger’s board of directors had countered that it viewed the measure as an “affront” to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms, and that it could threaten the financial viability of Ruger.
Asked by an unnamed shareholder during the annual meeting of steps Ruger is taking to help the nation reduce the proliferation of guns, CEO Chris Killoy referred to a 2019 corporate document that he said offers “wide-ranging” ideas. He said the company will consider additional steps, without making any commitment to a human-rights impact assessment or other possibilities.
“We monitor the acquisition and ownership and seek to ensure that not only the products we make are safe, but that we do everything we possibly can to ensure that our owners take their responsibility as firearms owners seriously,” Killoy said Wednesday. “We have a series of warnings throughout the instruction manual and on our website.”
The board of directors had advised shareholders to reject the measure. Chairman Ron Whitaker is a onetime CEO of Hartford-based Colt Industries, and based today in Savannah, Ga. as a corporate turnaround specialist. Other Ruger directors include Killoy and his predecessor Mike Fifer; Sandra Froman, the former president of the National Rifle Association; and retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Becky Halstead.
Halstead has a footnote in history as the first woman graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to make the rank of general, going on to lead the Army Ordnance Center which oversees the procurement of weapons and ammunition.
The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and member CommonSpirit Health had pressed for the shareholder vote. Ruger had previously responded to shareholder pressure with the 2019 human-rights policy statement that articulates goals for safer ownership of guns, but does not include data and related outcomes of its current policies.
“This assessment will provide vital information that ultimately will safeguard long-term shareholder value,” said Laura Krausa, director of advocacy programs for CommonSpirit Health, speaking briefly Wednesday at the annual meeting during a window the company allotted for comments and questions. “Ruger first needs to understand where it’s greatest human rights risks lie.”
ICCR and activists nationally point to the ongoing epidemic of mass shootings as justifying far-more stringent curbs on gun sales and ownership. Possible solutions include barring sales to people under age 21, which would likely spark court challenges; expanding background checks and funding for mental health; and exposing people to criminal liability for crimes committed by others with the guns they own, if they do not keep them locked in safes.
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