LGBTQ and Anti-Gun Violence Activists to Protest Smith & Wesson Appearance at Manhattan Investor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 13, 2016
LGBTQ and Anti-Gun Violence Activists to Protest
Smith & Wesson Appearance at Manhattan Investor Conference
WHAT: Leading anti-gun violence and LGBTQ and religious leaders will condemn a scheduled September 13 appearance by Smith & Wesson at the 2016 Best Ideas Conference produced by CL King & Associates, an investment bank.
Speakers will include: Letitia A. "Tish" James, NYC Public Advocate; Kirsten John Foy, National Action Network; Leah Gunn Barrett, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence; Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah; Rev. Micah Bucey, Judson Memorial Church; The Rev. Elder Pat Bumgardner, Metropolitan Community Church of New York; and Jay Walker, Gays Against Guns.
WHEN: September 13, 2016 at 12 noon.
WHERE: The Omni Berkshire Place Hotel, 21 E. 52nd St. at Madison Ave.
WHY: In a September 1, 2016 conference call with stock analysts, James Debney, Smith & Wesson’s CEO, said of the company’s first quarter, which ran from May 1 to July 31, “These are busy and exciting times for our company.” Debney added that the company is looking forward to the “busy buying season coming up that’s almost upon us now.”
During that same quarter, 49 people were shot and killed in an Orlando LGBTQ nightclub, five police officers were shot and killed in Dallas, and three police officers were shot and killed in Baton Rouge.
Smith & Wesson weapons were also used in the 2015 killings of 14 people in San Bernardino, CA. The company is a member of the NRA’s Golden Ring of Freedom indicating that it has donated at least $1 million to that pro-weapons lobbying group.
WHO: Gays Against Guns is a direct action group committed to ending gun violence in America through sensible gun law reform, a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, and universal background checks. Founded in June 2016 after a mass shooting in an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead, GAG believes that gun violence is a public health issue that disproportionately affects people of color, religious minorities, and LGBTQ Americans. It has chapters in New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC.
