This past June 220 CEOs wrote a letter to the Senate asking them to take action immediately to lessen gun violence. In 2019 a similar letter had been sent, this time though it had many more signatories. One of the signatories, Ed Stack, of Dicks Sporting goods, has been a leader in corporate activity against gun violence, so much so that his actions have been a case study from the Harvard Business Review. In 2018 Stack, himself a gun owner as well as a second amendment supporter, was so shaken after the Parkland shooting, that he decided to limit the sale of guns at his 850 plus stores and eliminate assault weapons. The reason for him was simple, “ I don’t want to be part of the story anymore,” he said. Dicks Sporting goods, lost money at first, but rebounded, a sign that corporate America may have more influence in controlling guns than politicians. Stack announced his decision on Good Morning America and that same day, LL Bean, Walmart and Kroger joined him. The Harvard case study attributes his success to the fact that he consulted with his executives, sought a kind of consensus and also engaged in a campaign communicating what he was doing and why. They do say however that the fact that he was the chief s stock owner as well as the CEO played a role. In an article about the CEO’s letter to the senate, the news website Axios summarized its importance by writing that not only did this letter have 50% more signatories than the one in 2019, but also that in light of Dicks sporting good experience as more companies and more CEOs take action it’s going to be harder for other consumer brands to doge the gun issue. And if that’s so then it would be a very hopeful step.
Tag: gun violence
School Shootings
When will we love our children more than we love guns? As you’ll probably remember on Tuesday January 23rd 2018, the 11th shooting occurred at a school this year. This time it was in a small town in Kentucky and there were two—probably only two to some. The NYT article describing the incident reminded us of other incidents: “On Monday, a school cafeteria outside Dallas and a charter school parking lot in New Orleans. And before that a school bus in Iowa, a college campus in Southern Continue reading “School Shootings”
Children and Guns
Here are some statistics about children and guns
- In a typical week in the US 25 children die from gunshot wounds
- Between 2012 and 2014 1297 children under 18 died each year as a result of firearm injuries
- In addition there were 5790 non-fatal injuries from gunshots
- African American children are 10 times more likely to be killed by homicides than white children: 3.5 per 100,000
- Suicide among white children is 4 times as high as it is for African American children
- The rate of unintentional firearm deaths is twice as high for African American children than it is for white children
- The District of Columbia and Louisiana had the highest firearm death, respectively 4.2 and 4.5 per 100,000
- Child suicide by gun were highest in Montana, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Alaska
- Most children who died of unintentional gun injury were shot by another child about the same age
- Child gun homicide deaths have declined, but suicide have increased by 36% from 2007 to 2014
- Gun suicide rates for that period increased 60%