The NRA is known for promoting an extreme agenda that undermines common-sense reform to stop gun violence. What’s less known is how the NRA traffics in racism. Their latest? Dressing beloved children’s characters in KKK hoods, as a way of ridiculing and protesting diversity on children’s television. As crazy as that sounds, it’s not an exaggeration.

A big part of why the NRA has power is because it has corporate funders with deep pockets—like Smith & Wesson—that give it millions of dollars. Smith & Wesson—now known as American Outdoor Brands—made the AR-15 that killed 17 people at Parkland. Now they’ve been caught secretly using company money—money from shareholders—to fund the NRA. The company hid this from shareholders—even after shareholders demanded that the company be transparent about its political donations.

Without knowing it, you—or anyone else with a pension, mutual fund, or retirement account—could be funding the NRA’s hateful racist antics and their extreme pro-gun agenda.

Thankfully, shareholders now have an opportunity to create greater accountability and transparency at the company. On September 25th, shareholders will vote on a resolution demanding the company report on what it's doing to improve safety and stop gun violence.  And they’ll vote on whether a particularly problematic board member should be ousted. Your voice can help make sure shareholders do both.

For these votes to successfully hold the company accountable, investment companies like BlackRock and Vanguard, two of the company’s largest shareholders, need to vote with us. They should side with safety-minded Americans who are willing to stand up against harmful decision-making at gun manufacturers and the NRA.

Please join us and our partners at Majority Action in calling on BlackRock and others to push back on the behavior of American Outdoor Brands and vote for greater corporate transparency from gun manufacturers.

Here is the Petition:

Dear BlackRock, Vanguard, and other major fund managers 

On September 25th, you have the opportunity to vote for a resolution that would be an important step towards greater accountability and transparency at one of the largest gun manufacturers, American Outdoor Brands Corporation (AOBC).

In 2016, AOBC gave $1.5 million to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), and failed to disclose it even though a majority of AOBC shareholders have called on them to do so. At a time when the NRA is launching outrageous, racist attacks on diversity—including an “NRA TV” segment which depicted beloved children’s characters in KKK hoods—this means that shareholder money is being used to fund offensive and harmful racist propaganda. The company is also dragging its feet on improving the safety of its products, ignoring evidence that its customers want better safety measures. AOBC also failed to disclose what we view as a significant conflict of interest of one of its board members.

We are calling on you as a major fund manager to demand greater accountability from AOBC by voting for the resolution brought by Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, U.S.-Ontario Province. And we are calling on you to follow the recommendation of Glass Lewis and withhold support from director Mitchell Saltz’s re-election, for failing to disclose his business interests and board service at a public company that appears to have competed with AOBC.