The leaders of 145 U.S. companies have sent a letter urging Congress to enact stricter gun laws as pressure builds on lawmakers to respond to gun violence.
The leaders of 145 U.S. companies have sent a letter urging Congress to enact stricter gun laws as pressure builds on lawmakers to respond to gun violence. Their plea, which follows the recent rash of mass shootings, is among Corporate America’s strongest statements yet against America’s gun violence epidemic.
Saying the country is in a public health crisis, the CEOs say in the letter that new laws that would require background checks on all gun sales “are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country.”
To save lives, the letter states, “the Senate must follow the House’s lead by passing bipartisan legislation that would update the background checks law.”
In addition to stronger background checks, the business leaders are calling for a strong red flag law, which could prevent shootings in cases where family members or law enforcement report concerns about someone who may be at risk of harming themselves or others.
Citing recent tragedies in Dayton, OH; El Paso, TX; Gilroy, CA.; and elsewhere, the CEOs say that millions of Americans have had their lives changed by gun violence, and that it’s time for lawmakers to respond. The letter also cites Chicago and Brooklyn, which are two communities where pockets suffer from gun violence.
“Every day, 100 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are wounded,” the letter states.
The business leaders say the proposals outlined in their letter are “bipartisan” and “widely supported by the American public.”
The group primarily includes CEOs from tech, media and startups. Signes included the leaders of Airbnb, Pinterest, Lyft, the Brookfield Property Group and Royal Caribbean. Among retailers, Ed Stack of Dick’s Sporting Goods and Art Peck, Gap Inc. signed the latter. Consumer brands companies included Chip Bergh, Levi Strauss; and Blake Mycoskie, founder and chief shoe giver, and Jim Alling, CEO, Toms.
Missing from the list, however, are some of America’s biggest financial and technology companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, some of which reportedly debated internally whether to sign the letter.
The letter is the American business community’s latest attempt to push back on guns, after 53 people died in mass killings in the U.S. during the month of August. Last week, the CEO of Walmart — which suffered a shooting at an El Paso store that left 22 people dead — called on Washington to strengthen background checks and make sure people who are found to pose a danger can’t access firearms.
A growing number of stores, from Walmart to CVS, Publix, Kroger and others, are also asking shoppers to refrain from openly carrying guns in their stores, whether local or states laws allow it or not.
