Wow! Incredible---Ruger's Shareholder Proposal Passes

[dlh]

I could not believe this---incredible---but apparently true:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/busi ... vists.html

[OlBill]

One of the risks of going public. I think I'll buy some Ruger stock.

[The Annoyed Man]

The article is a little misleading, and it even took me a minute to put 2 and 2 together. The NYT has it adding up to 5. The headline says “Sturm Ruger Shareholders Adopt Measure Backed by Gun Control Activists”......leading one to assume that Ruger had adopted such a measure. You have to read almost all the way through the story before realizing that, in fact, a minority of shareholders adopted a gun-control measure, and were completely unsuccessful in getting Ruger to adopt it. In fact, the last two paragraphs say it all:

Ruger has faced previous pressure to open up. In 2016, New York’s public advocate asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into allegations that Ruger had misled investors and failed to properly disclose its reputational and liability risks.

“This is not the first time this has happened, though there’s a little more intensity now,” said Brian G. Rafn, a principal at Morgan Dempsey Capital Management, referring to calls for changes in the gun industry. “This is a very, very polarized time, with everyone lining up on either side of the fence.”

“Open up” my great aunt Edna’s considerable posterior. More characterless muckraking from a member of the Democrat Steno Pool (AKA “the media”).

[Ed4032]

NYT Fake news. No surprise there. Just saying.

[bblhd672]

Received this from Ruger this evening.

[TexasJohnBoy]

One of the organizations that backed the effort to block her, Amalgamated Bank, an institutional investor and retail bank that promotes social justice issues, had said Ms. Froman’s close ties to the N.R.A. “may inhibit objective assessment and management of the risks” that Ruger faced.

This was the loudest thing proposed at the meeting, and Amalgamated Bank backed off of their push to block her from re-election.
So they have to prepare a report.

And for all that is good in the world, can we please drop Smart Gun Technology? That's worse than the mythical VDI.

[dlh]

The shareholder proposal which passed---the requirement for a report---is itself ridiculous. From the article:

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.

Wonder if Ford will have to prepare a report on the DWI deaths associated with its F-150 pickups...

[ghostrider]

Ruger stock closed up $2.65 a share today.

[The Annoyed Man]

The shareholder proposal which passed---the requirement for a report---is itself ridiculous. From the article:

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.

Wonder if Ford will have to prepare a report on the DWI deaths associated with its F-150 pickups...

And the answers (for Ruger) will be: it doesn’t track violence committed with Ruger firearms; it’s not conducting research into the impossible; and there is no more risk to Ruger than there is to Ford or Honda for the misuse of their products.

......and then - just like Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO, said to those investors who were concerned about Starbucks’ stance on gay marriage issues - Ruger CEO Christopher J. Killoy can invite those investors who disapprove of Ruger’s methods to find another vehicle for their investment dollars, if they think they can find one with the same ROI.

It is ABSOLUTELY OK to use the other side’s methods against them.

[The Annoyed Man]

One of the organizations that backed the effort to block her, Amalgamated Bank, an institutional investor and retail bank that promotes social justice issues, had said Ms. Froman’s close ties to the N.R.A. “may inhibit objective assessment and management of the risks” that Ruger faced.

This was the loudest thing proposed at the meeting, and Amalgamated Bank backed off of their push to block her from re-election.
So they have to prepare a report.

Has anybody noticed that the NYT has deleted the above-quoted sentence about Froman, without so much as a notice that they edited the article? The NYT would rather have its nether regions pounded flat with a mallet than to speak truth.

[gtolbert09]

This article is on NPR

Sturm Ruger, one of the largest gunmakers in the U.S., will track and report on gun violence involving its products, after its shareholders backed a proposal that the company's board had recommended not adopting.

Ruger says that while it must now produce the gun violence report, the proposal — which it called a "shareholder's activist resolution" — cannot "force us to change our business."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... resolution