What's Happening

October 5, 2021, New York, New York – Fifteen members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) drew support from 43.9% of the shareholders of Smith & Wesson for a proposal that the gun manufacturer adopt a comprehensive human rights policy in light of rising gun violence in the United States.

The Adrian Dominican Sisters, represented by Sister Judy Byron, OP, were the primary filers of the proposal. Fourteen faith-based organizations from ICCR co-filed.

In a press release, ICCR noted that this amount of support from shareholders – compared to 39% support for a similar proposal in 2019 – “demonstrates shareholders’ mounting concern with the company’s lack of attention to the growing risks of gun violence.” The proposal calls on Smith & Wesson to include in the policy “a description of the processes the company will use to identify, assess, prevent, and mitigate adverse human rights impacts.”  

“Undisputedly, something must be done about the misuse of guns in our country,” Sister Judy said in her September 27, 2021, Shareholder Statement. “As a leading firearms manufacturer we genuinely believe Smith & Wesson has the knowledge and the expertise to engineer the solutions we need to reduce gun violence and save lives.” 

A consultant to the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board, Sister Judy went on to note that the intention of the proposal is not to put Smith & Wesson out of business or to abolish the Second Amendment. “We seek to make the business, the products, and the consumers who buy them, safer,” she said. “We seek – as everyone here must surely do – to save lives.” 

July 2, 2021, Caldwell, New Jersey – Sister Patricia Daly, OP, a Caldwell, New Jersey, Dominican and a member of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB), was quoted in an article citing the recent victories of faith-based shareholder advocates in their work with three fossil fuel companies. 

In shareholder advocacy, peace and justice advocates purchase stock in corporations and thus have a voice in the corporation’s policies affecting the environment or other matters of social justice. The shareholder advocates won the day in shareholder meetings of ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, and Royal Dutch Shell. “It’s like the Earth has moved. Corporate America has shifted,” Sister Pat was quoted as saying in an Earthbeat article by Brian Roewe. 

Read the entire article, Bad Day for Big Oil is big climate win for religious shareholder advocates.