At Ruger’s annual shareholder meeting today, shareholders voted on a proposal pushed by a group of dissident shareholders — led by nuns, among others — that would require the publicly-traded firearms maker to “detail its plans to monitor violence associated with their guns and develop safer products.” As the New York Times reports,
At the company’s annual meeting, investors approved a proposal from a coalition of religious women and health care networks that Ruger had for weeks urged investors to reject. The vote came at the first gathering of shareholders for a publicly held American gun maker since 17 people died in a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February — an attack that led to boycotts and rallies for gun control.
There was another proposal that would have force Ruger to distance itself from the NRA that was considered too, but that was defeated.
How did the group have the right to put the proposal up for a vote?
Two years ago, members of the advocacy group, which includes the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary of Marylhurst, Ore., purchased shares in Ruger; American Outdoor Brands, the owner of Smith and Wesson; and Dick’s Sporting Goods, hoping to influence the companies’ attitudes toward gun safety. Their proposal on Wednesday was backed by a majority of shareholders, including the asset manager BlackRock, Ruger’s largest investor.
Because the proposal passed . . .
Now, Ruger must produce a report by February that addresses how it tracks violence associated with its firearms, what kind of research it is conducting related to so-called smart gun technology (such as using thumbprint readers, like those used on smartphones) and its assessment of the risks that gun-related crimes pose to the company’s reputation and finances.
In response, Ruger issued this statement this evening:
A one page response. Each year.
That’s all that is required.
Why fill a whole page?
A) We don’t track s**t. That’s the FBI’s job.
B) We think smart guns suck.
C) Gun crime has no effect on our business. Threats of gun control due to gun crime, however, increases sales.
The End
Mark_Anthony_78 for the win!
While the stockholder vote compels Ruger to create a report, does anything compel Ruger to expend vast resources on creating that report?
Since Ruger is obligated to be as profitable as possible, I would argue that devoting their limited resources to creating a report — which cannot increase Ruger’s profits — is financially irresponsible. Therefore, Ruger has a financial obligation to expend the minimum allowable effort on this report.
And then add a personal message to the antis: “You can kiss my ass and bark at the hole.”
Note: I would like to apologize to all those I have not yet offended. Please be patient.
I’m not offended yet, but i am laughing out loud
LOVE IT LOL LOL LOL !!!!! NEVER HEARD BARK @ THE HOLE !!! LOL LOL !!
My modest proposal to Ruger on how to prepare this report:
Every year, get a postcard from a nice town like Hooker, Oklahoma or Intercourse, PA, (plenty of great options) then on the card:
1) We do not.
2) We do none.
3) No risks.
Mail a copy to the Sisters, Blackrock, & other shareholders who “care”.
Blackrock is one of the financial institutions looking to use their power and influence against gun manufacturers. They are the largest aset amager in the world with 6.3 trillion dollars. Could it be possible they bought Ruger to run such a play? Adds a interesting aspect to Bank of America loaning to Remington. Buy it them destroy it through seemingly reasonable business descisions.
yep and that is their plan. make it so that the only gun manufacturers are the ones that supply them and only them. unfortunately that does not stop the criminal enterprises stealing them from them or making their own. they already know that the criminals dont care about the law but the criminals are not the majority who they want power and control over so they can reduce them to a level of slavery where they get a bowl of rice a day for their labours.
Blackrock will blink. When faced with the possibility of shutting down a gun manufacturer and causing a loss for investors, they’ll balk.
But some billionaire somewhere may very well start buying ou gun manufacturers just to shutter them. At some point they’ll figure that out.
My modest proposal to Ruger on how to prepare this report:
Every year, get a postcard from a nice town like Hooker, Oklahoma or Intercourse, PA, (plenty of great options) then on the card:
1) We do not.
2) We do none.
3) No risks.
Mail a copy to the Sisters, Blackrock, & other shareholders who “care”.
Might I suggest Bird In Hand as an alternative location for the postcard. Or maybe both places! Only about four miles from each other.
Again, I’m reminded of “Why don’t Kel-Tec finance? Why do they pay cash and take forever and run a steady business little influenced by unsustainable market swings?”
I’m not a KT fanboy. Never had one. But I respect their business model.
No time like the present to start buying shares. Anti gunners aren’t the only ones who can throw their money around!
Agree. Also, couldn’t agree more with Ruger’s response! In spades!!
Everyone has a right to express their displeasure with anything, so be it.
However, everyone has the right of the 2-A as well.
I commend Ruger on “Standing Their Ground” regarding 2-A.
I do wish the NRA would take a solid stance regarding OUR Rights!
Now if they had voted to place Bible verses on guns, I could have supported that. But instead of going after the hearts of men as the real problem, they try to change the hearts of non-living objects to prevent discharges. Ladies of the good book, this does not work! Just ask Mao or Hitler.
addendum: at least a (correct) bible verse on my gun would make me pause in the moment whether i should really use it or not.
the sisters of jesus and mary,should invest in hitachi ,i hear they make industrial strengh personal vibrators,then they would be investing in something they could get some milage from,kinda redefines the flying nun scenario….
It’s a shame Ruger is being subjected to this. Glad they are choosing the right path and essentially ignoring it.
Good for Ruger in taking this stance. We are all tired of the attempts of retailers (Dick’s Sporting Goods & Field & Stream), banks, investment firms and religious organizations with coercive agendas with regarding firearms and their attempts at social & cultural engineering to undercut the 2nd Amendment.
That was an incredibly pro 2A position Ruger took. Anyone who could take exception to that has outed themselves as a filthy, subhuman, Liberal Terrorist™️, and has no business contributing in any conversations involving firearms.
“Faith Based” is simply a BS cover for anti-gun efforts by individuals who hate Ruger and want them to go out of business.
List every DGU with a Ruger firearm they can get their hands on. Point out how proud they are of this.
List every failure of a “smart gun” prototype, how many DGU it would have turned into successful crime. and list all Rugers very smart safety innovations (transfer bar etc)
Point out Rugers market position.
Also;
Compliment the Popes armed guards, massive walls, up-armored & pimped-out golf cart.
Find out if the Swiss guards have Rugers in their arsenal. If so point this out in bold. List every single firearm in there if not.
List every LE agency around the globe that uses Ruger firearms.
^ This and include the already given statement that politely tells these pearl clutchers to go pound sand.
Kudos to Ruger to stand up to it own shareholders, those of you in the Corporate world know this was NOT Easy for them to do. The pressures on Ruger will be high, and the CEO is exposing himself to getting fired. BRASS BALLS. I love Ruger
Glad the first gun I purchased this year was a Ruger.
Glad the 2nd one will be as well.
Couldn’t agree more! I bought a GP100 Match Grade revolver in .357 Magnum a few weeks back. Ruger makes exceptional firearms!
Not just NUNS, but Three Shareholder Groups! “BlackRock Assets Management Group”, the Largest of the three with ~2.8-Million Shares and “Vanguard”, a Partnership between the “Catholic Health Initiatives” and “Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment”. Combined their respective stock holdings and proposed the move…
maybe Ruger should buy back a few of their own shares from these people and then put a couple of them with each new Ruger purchased. it then gives each purchaser of their firearms more stake in their business. yes short term they may loose a little. long term gain a lot and cop a lot less shit from groups such as these
That is actually a great idea! Why in the world should any gun maker have to keep record of who does what with a gun once purchased? That is for law enforcement and FBI to do. We are all responsible for our own actions with the guns we legally purchase. This is just one of many infringing ridiculous things that we as responsible gun owners are apparently expected to tolerate.
When is the Catholic Church going to produce a report on how it tracks child molester priests?
^^ THIS!! Can we buy shares in the Catholic Church and force it?
No offense to anyone here, but over the annals of history, the Catholic Church has probably killed as many people as guns have….
Oh, my dear boy, so many more.
So very many more…
yep pot calling the kettle black much
YEP!
Nicely said Ruger. Now..which one to buy…
Get the PC Caribine 9mm! If you can find one…
GP-100. A full-size .357 wheelgun is about the most American firearm you can own.
+1
A GP 100 may come in handy if you ever have to prove you’re not a commie pinko. Most any .44 magnum should also work.
I dry fired a GP-100 last week and now I’m considering buying my first revolver. Double action is usually off the list for me because I have an old injury to my trigger finger, but that trigger is really nice.
They can be lightened up a bit by installing lighter hammer and trigger return springs. Wil son Com bat and Wolff make kits for about $10. Watch a You Tube video. Takes about 45 minutes if you’re new at it. The 9 pound hammer spring could result in light strikes but the 10 pound won’t (down from 14 pound stock spring).
Ruger has a lot of cash and cash equivalents (as of Q4 2017) so they should think about doing a large-scale buyback.
They have been buying back shares as well as paying dividends. But if the antis aren’t selling, buying back shares will only come from pro-2A shareholders.
Can a buyback target specific investors or investor classes (for example targeting institutional shareholders)? If so, that would be an easy way to solve this issue in the future. Reduce the number of institutional holders like Blackrock, and it would be far harder for this to happen.
The issue is, any shares held by ETF’s or mutual funds convey the voting rights to the fund, not the investors in said fund, meaning an enormous amount of shares can be controlled by a single entity that doesn’t actually have any money invested. This seems like an area rife for reform.
Forced buyback – totally not confiscation, because it wasn’t that in Australia
Not really, unless they are callable shares. And those ETFs have a fiduciary duty to protect shareholder value. If they act against the shareholders in a way that hurts them (doing things that will tank ruger) a pretty severe lawsuit can result. Nuns buying up shares to do things that will hurt the company simply shows how stupid they are.
Absolutely correct. I would point that fact out to the other shareholders and tell those sanctimonious witches to F off! Being an ex-catholic, this ultra-liberal garbage is the rule rather than the exception in much of the church. Funny how those same holier-than-thou liberal “catholics” are ok with abortion and a few other things that make traditional catholics cringe. The other bald-faced liar who says this isn’t about gun control should be reminded that lying is also a sin.To Ruger and other related manufacturers, Do whatever it takes to keep control of your companies. The leftist fascists will stop at nothing to take your firearms away and repeal the 2ND Amendment.
It’s nearly impossible to Repeal an US Constitutional Amendment and only the US.Hse.of Rep. has the power to do so…
…and repealing the 2A does not mean the right is gone. The right preexists our government. The gov has no ability to take the right; only to infringe. The gov needs to be reminded however, that repealing the 2A would be the act which triggers the duty to overthrow tyranny.
@ Wood.
As which? God given right or Constitutional right. God given rights can only be given by God or a King, the United States has Neither…
Certain rights go with being born. Self defense and self determination among them. The 2A merely recognizes a right, which the gov may neither grant nor take.
yes the marxist liberation theology has taken over 90% of all churches. it varies slightly to the congregation and location for example in africa it has with the black churches been more militant…. in the white churches heavily turn the other cheek no matter the threat thrown at you along with throw down your guns and surrender “jesus will save you”. yes when i did go to church i have heard exactly that preached (i grew up in a fundy xtian home). what i find funny is that when i pushed on luke 22:36 they tried to say that it was the bible (the sword of god) FFS. that passage to me is quite clear on its meaning and it is literally a weapon and not a damn book
“It’s nearly impossible to Repeal an US Constitutional Amendment” It requires a 2/3 vote of the the House and Senate and must be ratified by 3/4ths of the various states.
Fixed it for you Secundius
As I said “Nearly Impossible”, NOT “Impossible”…
Bursting at the seams with Soros and Bloomberg money, these gun control fascists are fighting us on numerous fronts. Never let up. The fight will never end.
at least not till we cut of all the heads at the top that provide the funds. trouble is there would be a lot rise up to take their place…. Tree Of Liberty
Point of order, the Second Amendment does not confer a right of the People to be armed; it recognizes that right which is endowed by the Creator, and is therefore not something that government can abolish. Government may infringe, but the right endures.
Ruger stock will be purchased this year. Also, I had planned on a new Dan Wesson 1911 and a SKB Field Grade Double for bird hunting. Looks like the SKB will be on hold and a Redhawk in .45 Colt/45 ACP will be substituted.
^Ooo, nice choice!
nice. i used to have a ruger super blackhawk and i loved that gun. would love to get a SR1911 in 9mm that i can use in a variety of comps here but sadly customs have stopped them coming in as apparently there is some minor fault with them that takes 5 mins to fix and customs wont let the importers fix them at customs anymore so they comply with customs regs. fuck i wish i could leave this damn shithole country
I now know which firearms manufacturer I will be purchasing my next firearm from. Now I just have to decide which one?!
Way to go Ruger!
If Bill Ruger was still alive, he’d be kissing the rings of the Sisters of the Holy Names.
But he’s not, so they aren’t. They also aren’t restricting “high capacity” magazines only to government orgs. Bill had good engineering, but lousy politics. I don’t know how much of his lobbying was an attempt to gain a business advantage and how much was belief. He proposed a 15 round limit, which would let the P85 pass, but would penalize the Glock 17. Of course, it was passed at 10 rounds, and everyone suffered.
It’s worth remembering, but Ruger has been forgiven and are being cool now. It’s important for the gun community to be a good freind to our freinds, as well as being a force to our enemies.
Unbelievably stupid! No such thing as gun violence ,guns are not violent they are inanimate objects the violence comes from the person behind the gun, I cannot believe ruger are falling for this liberal crap! .the actions of the few mentally deranged should not affect the majority of the law abiding gun owners , of ruger bow to this crap I will never buy from them again
Uh, they had no choice by law, but to provide the report. And that’s all they’re obligated to do. They are not changing their guns, or business. Also – “gun violence” is a media invented term that generally means crimes committed with a gun. It’s just semantics – whatever.
Being a god given right, those nuns should be ashamed of themselves, now do fifty Hail Marys and try again..
Ruger knows that antis have a short term memory but that the PotG have a long term one. There’s still those that refuse to own a Ruger firearm because of Bill Ruger’s (often misunderstood) stance on the 94 AWB.
This however is awesome and steadfast. I always liked Ruger, and I like them even more now. They strengthened their resolve, and arguably gained some customers with this. They know they can’t pussy foot when it comes to this market. Be strong, be resolute, weather the storm, it’ll work out in the end if you stick to your guns.
Those dissidents are contributing to the downfall of America! Totally un-American. If they don’t like it, then they should get out of our fine country. We don’t need those POS folks muddying up our waters!
Every shooter needs to put money into this game and buy one share of stock from every publicly traded gun oriented company and then vote at every company’s annual meeting. Oh, and buy product as well. But, never from Dick’s.
I mean, except that it’s a waste of money, Ruger absolutely *should* do all that research, because I have a feeling the nuns wouldn’t like the answers.
Just like the antis didn’t like the answers that came about from the CDC research and have convienently ignored their report.
Just proves that Ruger has changed for the better since Bill died.
Oh man NOW I have to a Ruger and a Hipoint(10mm carbine). Already have a Mossberg. Where does it end?!? Seriously great of Ruger. Nuns. Freaking nuns😖
And Springfield Armory since they were the first to announce, prior to Hi-point (I know, you’ve said you won’t buy from them, I think), but they’ve done a lot for the 2A since last May when the story broke.
Are you a registered lobbyist ?
LoL
Springfield has quite a way to go before this Illinois resident buys a gat from them…they started the ball rolling I’ll give you that.
I don’t think the proposal was backed by a majority of shareholders. It was supported by a majority of voting shares that are owned by anti-gun mutual funds.
Way to go Ruger! Now cut off Dick’s and you’ll really rock.
I hated my LCR, but I think I may have to buy me a different Ruger soon. Maybe an Alaskan.
Try the Ruger LC9s Pro.
Ruger to the Antis,Eff Off.
I’ll bet Chik-Fil-A is pro gun. They should make a big buy of Ruger stock and drive all the leftists nuts.
The nuns don’t own anything, the church does, the Vatican is behind thiss.May the Pope burn in hell
Thank you Ruger, for not bowing down to the bully tactics used by the anti-freedom jerks! I have owned several Rugers over the years, with great satisfaction, including the AR 5.56 I bought last summer. By the way, thank you for your excellent customer service and warranty in fixing the minor problem I was having. A feed problem, and you replaced the whole upper receiver, no charge! I am but 2 weeks from buying your new SP in .44 special. Keep it up, we need a strong presence from manufacturers!
Ohhhhhh, man 😀 I would do just about anything to get to be the person who pens that report. Or even just be a significant contributor on that team. Likelihood? Slim to a bullseye with .22LR at 700 yards …but! I am going to contact Ruger and literally beg them to let me write that report.
I might even get a little hustle and bribe going.
It’s the opportunity of a lifetime… I have so many rich and robust ideas. Smart guns? Smart guns! SMART GUNS, PEOPLE! The technology has advanced to the point where only the terminally boring and terribly bored would ever want to miss out on a real, comprehensive update. I could write a two hundred page opus on what Netflix series I’ve binged on so far this year, and all my relatives’ bizarre chronic health conditions, and my adventures of price-shopping for plumbing supplies at various hardware stores, and my rekindling of the romantic relationship with the cute cashier I never thought I’d see again, and my motorcycle tours across the Western United States (e.g., I am going to revisit Black Canyon of the Gunnison, for sure…), and finally getting around to filing down the frets on that gorgeous ebony board of this brilliant SG clone I am building, and the fact that I daydream and invent rekindled romantic relationships with cute cashiers that I am way too old for, and my cousins’ upcoming high school graduation ceremonies, and last night’s sublime-but-seemingly ordinary beans & rice dish that was oddly interrupted by a timely report on my cousin’s daughter’s son’s perils of juvenile constipation, and a comparative shootout on the variety of “no scrub” bathroom tile foam cleaners available at my local supermarket, and the saga of my temperamental right fork seal on my Aprilia that just sprang yet another leak, and the stunning and stunningly complicated drone shot we’re trying to pull off while piloting my plane from inside a moving rock-crawling 4-Runner at Charleoux Gap, and my occasional musings about what HPR ammo might have been if “those guys” in Payson didn’t flame out and fail, and which YouTube gun channel platform will eventually reign supreme as America’s new peanut gallery, and getting the dogs on a better diet while still managing their flatulence, and the fact that they’re not even my dogs (but since I spend so much time at my cousins, I really think I should implement a healthier regimen…), and being a freaked out virgin for a Mexican dentist in Nogales to see if the cost-to-quality-of-dental-work ratio is as factual as it is legendary….
So much smart guns. So, so much.
Clearly, I am the man for this job. I will have these nuns drooling and slamming their heads on the desk within 25 minutes and 25 pages… and then Ruger will put up a little plaque commemorating this first annual report, and I will be an internet meme legendary pasta creep. No, wait! I want a Special Edition LCR named after my wonderful gay kid– a purple 3-shot LCR in .44 Special with a decocker… this is going to be so great.
But, first, I gotta get this job. Wish me luck! 😀
Can we please just stop dicking around and start the the damn revolution. I’d hate to have bought all these guns and all this ammo for nothing.
Be patient.
I dont see Banks and Protest against GM or Ford for all the Drunk Drivers Killing people every day .
Its the something.
The Gun make is NO way responsible for what you do .
No more then GM or Ford is for Drunk Drivers .
Thats one of the biggest issues these days .
No one takes Responsibility for their actions .
It always has to be someone else’s fault .
Wake up !
Teach your Children about Responsibility !
Lest we forget, the “gun safety” and “car safety” lobbies have the same goals, rhetoric, and tactics. There have been plenty of lawsuits against car companies when drunks (Ford with the “exploding” vehicles), the doddering and clumsy (Audi and Toyota “sudden acceleration”, etc. have caused or been killed in accidents. The Automotive Institute for Highway Safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, any and all of Ralph Nader’s groups, etc. are cut of the same cloth as the anti-gunners. “If it saves just one life.” Some may remember when the Corvair was finally tested years later against other smaller cars from the same era, the Corvair was LESS likely to roll, yet the earlier public shaming caused its demise, along with the demise of GM’s engineering department.
Underneath it all, they DO want to take your car away, and along with it your freedom to travel, just like they want to take away your firearms., because they know best. Unarmed travel in a public bus or subway with nasty, knife-wielding homeless and illegals pressing up against you is good for YOUR soul. How dare you not know that?
We want all churches to start paying taxes. We want all priest mentally checked to see if they’re fit to be around young boys. We want detailed records all the violence that religion has caused in the separation of human beings.
I don’t know if you are being serious, but I actually really do want all those things. It’s time for the accountability wheel to start rolling over religious institutions IMO.
I actually am a stockholder in RUGER, not a lot of stock, but a few shares. I voted NO on this proposal recently. I appreciated the response from the CEO. Will buy two LCP’s now, one for my old lady, pink, and one for me, green camo. These anti-liberty clowns are just an insidious cancer.
@ HEGEMON.
Unfortunately one of the Three Players in the Decision Making Process, BlackRock Financial Planning and Investment Management has the Largest Stock Portfolio of ~2.8-Million Shares. And the likelihood of anyone buying them out is between “Nil and None”. Their Assets for 2017, was ~$6.288-Trillion USD…
“detail its plans to monitor violence associated with their guns and develop safer products.”
Ruger’s response should be even shorter.
“Not our job.”
How do you make a gun safer than they already are? Make them so they don’t shoot?
Women ruin everything.
Also, I’m buying another Ruger this year. They earned it.
The whole world has gone madd. Go buy rgr and vote!!
@ The truth.
The Largest Shareholder “BlackRock” controls ~2.8-Million Shares of Ruger Stock and “Aren’t” Selling…
10/22(2), SR9, SR9c, LC9S(2), M77, M77-44, SR1911, SP101……..PC9 is next on my list. Thank you Ruger.
Catholics are hellbound anyway. They worship idols and stuff.
RUGER You are treading on thin ice because the common person that uses firearms need them to work and work every time regardless of. Weather it’s self defense or wild hog eradication. Or predator hunting and Dangerous Game hunting we need affordable firearms. For the common man. A Ruger Sp 101 saved my ass as a security officer in the ealy Summer of 2000.
Um… wait, why is Ruger “treading on thin ice?”
I’m going to take a wild guess and say one of two things probably happened:
Either you didn’t bother to read the whole article, and perhaps just skimmed it. Or, when you did read it, perhaps you didn’t comprehend what you are reading and misunderstood it.
Ruger’s shareholders– people who own stock in the company– just told Ruger that they had to submit to some nanny monitoring antigun hysteria stupidness. And Ruger just said, “We don’t really care what they think, because it’s silly.” Basically telling people who voted for this that they have no clue what the gun business is about.
America and the state of English …that’s what’s on thin ice. 😀
It looks like a Ruger wants to “go out of business”, just like Remington did.
My problem with Ruger is that they are not looking out for their shareholders. If I was a shareholder and didn’t agree with the brainless idiots I would sue Ruger. They wouldn’t be following their first obligation. That’s to make a ‘profit’ for the shareholders. I’m just as opposed to gun as the next nun, but I’m also opposed to not getting a “DIVIDEND”, after all that’s why you buy shares to make money. I know the nuns didn’t poll their own sisters or their donors. Again, If I had shares, I would ask the nuns to stop or I will NO LONGER SEND ANY DONATIONS. If I don’t make any money, you’ll won’t get any donations. I’m sure there are some BIG donors that have some weight. God bless.
These liberal stockholders show their stupidity. For their information Ruger only, I said only sells to distributors, who in turn sells to FFL holders who, after a background check sells to the public. Wake up you ignorant people! Ruger needs to buy these liberal stockholders out if they can. Ruger, Alabama would liove to have you ;move to our great state here the 2A is respected and supported.
When Ruger starts making smart guns, they will also be sold to law enforcement and the military. NO dumb guns for anyone. Everyone get the same smart guns.
Gun’s aren’t supposed to be safe. If it was safe, I wouldn’t buy it.
And how on earth are they going to monitor violence associated with their guns??? Even the ATF/FBI aren’t categorizing gun violence by brand. WTF.
They should change their brand/logo:
RUGER: Reliable, High Quality, and overtaken by dumb shits.
agree with all you say there mate and i intend to buy shares in ruger myself once i am back working again. i have a back injury from many years ago that is starting to play up more and i had to quit the last job due to the fact it was leaving me barely able to walk. i know i will hate office type work but it is work till i can get tooling set up and home and start making knives and other blacksmithing and machining projects from home. start out small part time and only quit the jobs i hate once i am making enough
I’m so old I remember when the solution to a company in a business you don’t like was to not buy shares in it.
Yep, agree. Times have changed. Now the monies types buy shares to gain control and, it suits their agenda, often times destroy the company and what it stood for at its inception.
Has anyone considered that the Three Entities that have Controlling Interest in Ruger Stock are manipulating stock prices. A coordinated effort to jack up the cost of buying Ruger Stock. These Three: “BlackRock”, “CHI” and “NWCfRI” have Controlling Interest in Ruger Firearms, and the only way to dislodge them is to buy them out at whatever the cost. BlackRock alone has ~$6.288-Trillion USD in assets, enough to buy Ruger Firearms Company ~71,000-times over…
“Now, Ruger must produce a report by February that addresses how it tracks violence associated with its firearms, what kind of research it is conducting related to so-called smart gun technology (such as using thumbprint readers, like those used on smartphones) and its assessment of the risks that gun-related crimes pose to the company’s reputation and finances.”
My goodness. Since it’s been mandated by the wee-wee’e up voice vote of the astro-turfed party faithful (Anybody doing forensics on the the share-purchase money? Bloomie? Someone else?) … they get to put money in this. I say hire an actual PR team, like whoever wrote that statement, and to it right.
/Sample Report
Track violence associated with Ruger arms:
There’s less because our arms are out there. That’s the point.
We assume guns we made track with the general statistics — we make standard-pattern sporting rifles and pistols. We think we make them better than our competitors, as do a few million people / year who buy our products, but you aren’t asking about that.
We track gun violence in general via FBI statistics, balanced, when they don’t suppress the it, by CDC info on DGUs. From those, net, net, peaceful, responsible people with quality arms — like we at Ruger make — reduce the general violence in society, and violence that our customers experience. That’s the point.
Research into smart guns:
We’e done enough research into what’s called “smart gun” technology to determining that it is dumb.
We’re not interested in making our products harder to use, and more dangerous for our customers. “Smart gun” technology introduces additional mechanisms for unintended operation, while making a gun harder to operate when you mean to. We think that’s bad for our customers.
Ruger arms have mechanical safeties — of exceptional, often innovative design — which block the accidental operation of the firearm very well, while minimally impacting the ability to fire on purpose. We will continue our investment in safety technologies with the same performance profile: harder to fire unintentionally across all circumstances, without preventing firing on purpose. Ever-improving mechanical safeties are an example of this focus across the industry, and we do more than our part.
We look forward to hearing, perhaps from our concerned shareholders, of any gun safety technologies demonstrated to improve our customers’ ability to fire when they want to, and not fire when they don’t.
Risk of gun-related crimes:
Given the statistics of gun ownership vs. violence, and especially of DGUs now that the CDC has stopped suppressing the information we believe any honest reporting of gun-related crimes has, would, and will continue to result in increasing demand for our products from peaceful, responsible citizens.
On an ethical note…
We believe ours is the ethical approach to firearms and gun safety, not that our shareholders asked.
Quality firearms are a net gain in public safety, or we wouldn’t be in this business. Quality firearms are a net gain to the safety of our customers, along with being something they enjoy; some cherish. We consider it a privilege to provide tools our customers can use for their safety, and even to simply enjoy.
We don’t seek to make large returns when violent events inspire people to arm themselves for their own protection. We don’t do demand pricing. We do give our shareholders a reasonable return, with the added benefit that we, and thus they, are in the business of empowering people to create their own safety.
Ongoing
We look forward to reviewing year over year how we perform on these important goals; goals which, while ever front of mind for Ruger, our shareholders have required that we reflect and report on each year.
Ruger should prepare the report and then charge a substantial fee to deliver it. And, it wouldn’t surprise me if BlackRock had a short position or was preparing to become the de facto industry lender-investor.
The idea to charge a substantial fee for the report is a good one. Make it cost those jerks to see the report.
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