by Liz Shield
On Thursday, 145 woke executives sent a letter to the Senate begging them to “do something” about gun violence. The letter demanded “an expansion of background checks to all firearms sales and stronger “red flag” laws.”
“Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety,” the heads of 145 companies, including Levi Strauss, Twitter and Uber, say in the letter, which was shared with The New York Times.
Will the demand to “do something” by gun-ignorant executives actually “do anything” about gun violence? No matter, that’s not the goal. The goal is to do what the social justice movement is pressure corporations to do in order to avoid a social media spectacle and boycott.
“To a certain extent, these C.E.O.s are putting their businesses on the line here, given how politically charged this is,” said Chip Bergh, chief executive of Levi Strauss, a company whose denim jeans have long been a symbol of America. Mr. Bergh spent the last several days trying to cajole his peers into joining him and gun control advocates like Everytown, which is funded in part by Michael Bloomberg. “Business leaders are not afraid to get engaged now,” he added. “C.E.O.s are wired to take action on things that are going to impact their business and gun violence is impacting everybody’s business now.”
Woke CEO Bergh is excited. “The tide is turning. People were starting to be much more open-minded.”
The New York Times reports that Bergh is expecting a backlash: “This has been spun by the N.R.A. as we’re trying to repeal the Second Amendment,” Mr. Bergh said. “Nothing is further from the truth.”
If you are interested in some of the letter signers here are a few high profile ones: Apple, Facebook, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo along with “Thrive Capital, whose founder, Joshua Kushner, is the brother of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah.”
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Liz Sheld is a veteran political strategist and pollster who has worked on campaigns and public interest affairs. She has written at Breitbart and The Federalist, as well as at PJ Media, where she wrote “The Morning Briefing.” In her spare time, she shoots sporting clays and watches documentaries.
Photo “Gun Control Sign” by Fibonacci Blue. CC BY 2.0.
