Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese Wants to Influence Smith and Wesson Business Practices

Mass Live has the story here.

Determined to address gun violence from within the firearms industry, the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts voted last week to buy 200 shares of stock in American Outdoor Brands, the Springfield-based parent company of Smith & Wesson.

“So that we might have a voice at the table and work with some other church groups to see what we can do to lessen the public health crisis of gun violence,” said Bishop Douglas J. Fisher. “It’s born out of frustration.”

Two hundred shares is the minimum number needed to place an initiative question on the ballot before shareholders at American Outdoor Brands' annual meeting.

You may recall that last year a group of nuns was successful in pushing through a shareholder ballot initiative forcing Smith and Wesson to to "give an accounting of how the company monitors gun violence and what it's doing to make safer products and keep firearms away from those who shouldn't own them."  It appears Smith and Wesson might want to consider increasing the minimum number of shares required to put a question on the ballot at a stockholder meeting.  At the current price of American Outdoor Brands (Smith and Wesson's holding company) that amounts to only having to fork over $2600 in order to create mischief.  These people aren't interested in protecting an investment, they want to harm the company and by extension, gun owners.