Why do we not interest ourselves more in those who win from gun violence, the companies that manufacture, market, and sell weapons, those that profit from the inevitable spikes in sales following massacres and assassinations. Or the investors who traditionally favor shares in these enterprises of death?
We know about the NRA, we see Wayne LaPierre's crackpot rants. But he's just a highly-paid frontman, an obviously deranged puppet, for an industry that would sooner see "active shooter situations" every single day in this country than forego even a fraction of a penny in profits, one that no doubt would like every person on earth to own a weapon, or two or three. The companies that, through their contributions to politicians, funneled through the NRA, frustrate citizen attempts at sanity, buy us corrupt and imbecilic lawmakers, finance this horrific situation.
Who are the biggest shareholders in Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. of Springfield, Massachusetts? [Ugh, look at their website, it's creepy, there's a link to a shopping cart on the front page. Why there isn't a permanent prayer vigil for the souls of the employees and the souls of gun victims out front every day, I don't know.]
Fidelity and Vanguard investment funds are at the top, with Fidelity looking like they have the most total shares. These are in blandly named funds like Fidelity Advisor® Small Cap A, Fidelity® Low-Priced Stock, Vanguard Small Cap Index, Vanguard Total Stock Mkt Idx. Then there is the breakdown by institutional investors, with Vanguard and Fidelity again at the top, followed by institutions like Royal Bank of Canada, BlackRock Fund Advisors, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs.
Are you in any of these funds? Check it out, move your money, make these companies know how you feel about aiding and abetting carnage in the name of indiscriminate profits. Help make this money filthy in the eyes of reasonable people and institutions with funds to invest, help make "prestigious," "socially responsible" investment firms with "corporate responsibility policies" flee from these investments like the plague.
Mass shootings exist partly, well a lot, because gun sales are profitable; we can rail against gun proliferation, argue about gun control, try to puzzle out the particular dysfunction or motivation of the perpetrator de jour, pray for the victims and weep over the tragedies, rage at the seeming impossibility of fixing this, but the killings won't stop until the industry becomes untouchable, among other things.