You’ll say that you wouldn’t support these companies and their hypocrisy. I’ll bet that many of us do without even knowing it. We can refuse to shop at Bass Pro or eat at Chick-Fil-A, but what about the banks and insurance companies that finance and hold stock in firearms? There are some huge players here. Bank of America, Chase Bank and Met Life play a significant role in the gun industry. Wells Fargo is the bank of the NRA and openly invites similar clients. Millions of dollars in donations to pro-gun politicians come from our banks and insurance companies. I’ve asked myself “Who are these banks and insurance companies and if I’m a customer of one, what can I do?”
Find out where your assets are. We have a list of the banks and insurance companies that are major players in financing the gun industry and their major retailers. Such as Bank of America, Chase Bank and Met Life, to name a few.
If you have investments, check with your financial advisors. They should be able to tell you exactly where your money is. If it’s anywhere you don’t want it to be, direct them to invest your savings elsewhere. If you are in mutual funds or ETFs they may not break down the particular stocks within those funds, but you can. There is a website called “Gun Free Funds” where you simply click on the icon and enter the name of the fund. It will give you a firearms grade (A-F) and it can tell you what company and how much is invested within that fund.
Once you have the information you need, decide what you want to do with your money.
Start advocating:
Write a letter, send an email.
Post what you know on social media – what people post is monitored by these companies.
Shop around for a new bank, insurance company or move your money into a fund you prefer.
Divest yourself of the companies and tell them why – money talks.
As Rupert Murdoch agreed about Fox News “It’s not the red or the blue, it’s the green.”