Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action Applaud 145 Business Leaders for Letter to U.S. Senate Demanding Action on Gun Safety

Business Leaders Represent Employees from Large and Small Companies, Including: Airbnb, Amalgamated Bank, Bloomberg LP, Brookfield Property Group, Condé Nast, DICK’S Sporting Goods, DoorDash, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Lyft, Pinterest, Postmates, Royal Caribbean, RXR Realty, Square, TOMS, Twitter, Uber, and Yelp, Among Others

Polling Released Last Week Showed that Companies “Have More to Gain Than They Put at Risk” by Advocating for Gun Safety

NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, today applauded 145 business leaders representing some of the nation’s leading corporations for a joint letter sent to the U.S. Senate urging lawmakers to pass a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law.

Some of the brands include: Airbnb, Amalgamated Bank, Bloomberg LP, Brookfield Property Group, Condé Nast, DICK’S Sporting Goods, DoorDash, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Lyft, Pinterest, Postmates, Royal Caribbean, RXR Realty, Square, TOMS, Twitter, Uber, and Yelp, among others.

“This diverse coalition of leading companies knows what consumers want and, for the first time, is using its combined clout and knowledge to push for common-sense gun safety legislation,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “This unified corporate action represents a sea change in American culture. The experts on America’s consumers are speaking, and our elected officials should listen.”

“As a former corporate executive, I can say with certainty that these business leaders would not sign onto this letter unless they were confident that their customers were with them,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “This letter, along with the recent announcements from corporations like Walmart and CVS to prohibit open carry in stores, proves that acting on gun safety isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s good for business. If this many major brands can act, surely the Senate can, too.”

As reported today, the letter states:

“As leaders of some of America’s most respected companies and those with significant business interests in the United States, we are writing to you because we have a responsibility and obligation to stand up for the safety of our employees, customers and all Americans in the communities we serve across the country.  Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety.  

“Gun violence in America is not inevitable; it’s preventable. There are steps Congress can, and must, take to prevent and reduce gun violence. We need our lawmakers to support common-sense gun laws that could prevent tragedies like these.

“That’s why we urge the Senate to stand with the American public and take action on gun safety by passing a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law that would allow courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders.”

The U.S. House has already taken action. Earlier this year it passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks act, led by Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Pete King (R-NY). On Tuesday, September 10, the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance a strong Red Flag bill to the House floor.
 
Polling released last week from Edelman Intelligence showed that a strong majority of Americans feel favorably towards businesses that support gun safety measures. The poll — taken before recent moves by major companies to prohibit open carry in their stores — shows broad and bipartisan public support for a variety of actions by CEOs and companies, including supporting legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales, funding gun safety education and prohibiting open carry in their stores. Based on these findings, Edelman Intelligence advised that businesses “have more to gain than they put at risk” by advocating for gun violence prevention. 

Other notable findings include: 

• Nearly half of Americans would be more likely to purchase from a company if its CEO has taken action to address gun violence and just 11 percent are less likely to purchase from that company; 
• The majority of Democrats, Republicans and gun owners would feel more favorable toward a company whose CEO advocated for legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales; and
• Consumers are three times more likely to respond positively than negatively to a CEO or company that takes action to address gun violence. 

Recently, there have been additional actions from businesses including Albertsons Companies, ALDI, CVS, Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Wegmans, Walgreens and Walmart announcing prohibitions on open carry in their stores. Moms Demand Action volunteers have been urging corporations to prohibit open carry in stores since 2013, when volunteers successfully convinced Starbucks to change its open carry policy. In 45 states it is legal for civilians to openly carry loaded, semiautomatic rifles in public—and in 41 of those states a person can openly carry without a permit or safety training.

A sample of corporate action on gun violence prevention is available here.