In a partnership between Unload Your 401k and anti-gun violence campaign, No Guns Allowed, entertainment icon Snoop Dogg and tech leader Ron Conway joined forces to call for divestment from the gun industry. Through the union, the two are using #ImUnloading in a new PSA to turn their pledge into reality, joined by athletes Bobby Wagner of the Seattle Seahawks and Matt Barnes of the Los Angeles Clippers; actress/singer Margot Bingham; singer/songwriter/producer Aloe Blacc; singer/songwriter Jhene Aiko; and League Of Young Voters' Executive Director, Dr. Rob Biko Baker.
Gun Violence is an epidemic, with 20 children every day admitted to hospitals with gunshot wounds. In an effort to create change, Conway is calling on the C-Suite of tech companies to offer socially-responsible, “no guns allowed” investment options, and Snoop Dogg is enlisting the support of the entertainment industry and his fans to declare #ImUnloading in the name of those touched by the tragedy of gun violence.
“I'm unloading for my loved ones that I've lost,” Snoop Dogg said. “I'm going all in for gun free investing.”
“Every American is at risk of gun violence, but we all can also be part of the solution,” Conway said. “I am reaching out to my entire network to encourage companies of every size to divest their retirement portfolios from the gun industry.”
The PSA, from Campaign to Unload and States United to Prevent Gun Violence, is the second installment of support for Unload Your 401k, a program designed to raise awareness of divestment as a unique and powerful strategy to help make a meaningful change in preventing gun violence.
“There is a straight line from gun industry investment, to gun industry profits, to funding of the NRA. Half the value of these companies comes from mutual funds and most of the 'investors' in these funds have no idea they are inadvertently part of the problem. Now they can be part of the solution,” said Jennifer Fiore, executive director of Campaign to Unload.
“Greedy gun corporations are benefitting from the pain in our community,” said Baker. “It's important that we vote with our money.”
UnloadYour401k.com offers visitors an easy way to look-up their 401k retirement plan to see if it is supporting the gun industry and its lobbying group, the National Rifle Association. Employees now have the tools available to get their money out of gun investments.
“It is long past time for government to act to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in America, but it is also long past time when we can believe that they will,” said Julia Wyman, executive director of States United. “Americans want change and thanks to our partners in this effort, more Americans will be aware of their economic power to take power into their own hands.”
The PSA is available on YouTube page (http://youtu.be/Y5K-Ti6tQzA) and the Unload Your 401k site.
