150 CEOs urge Senate to change gun laws
In letter, business leaders seek a ‘common-sense solution’
The leaders of about 150 companies called on the U.S. Senate to pass gun-control legislation to combat the American scourge of mass shootings and gun violence.
CEOs of companies including Uber, Lyft, Conde Nast, Gap, Levi Strauss, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Twitter and Dick’s Sporting Goods signed a letter exhorting senators to step in, saying it’s “simply unacceptable” to do nothing.
“We urge the Senate to stand with the American public and take action on gun safety by passing a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong
Red Flag law that would allow federal courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders,” the business leaders wrote.
The letter adds to a growing wave of corpo- rate action on guns. In recent weeks, retailers including Walmart,
Kroger, Walgreens and
CVS have asked consumers not to openly carry guns in their stores. Walmart also said it would no longer sell ammunition for assault-style weapons and handguns.
In their call to action, the business leaders who wrote to Congress said universal background checks are a “common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country.”
They said red-flag laws, which allow authorities to remove weapons from potentially volatile people, are also “widely supported by the American public.”
They cited recent mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas and West Texas; as well as gun violence in such cities as Chicago and Newport News, Virginia, as catalysts in their call to action.
“As leaders of some of America’s most respected companies and those with significant business interests in the United States, we are writing to you because we have a responsibility and obligation to stand up for the safety of our employees, customers and all Americans in the communities we serve across the country,” they wrote.
The signers included about 50 leaders of companies with more than 500 employees, including Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch, Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Royal Caribbean Cruises CEO Richard Fain, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Lyft CEO Logan Green, Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh, Gap CEO Art Peck, Edelman CEO Richard Edelman and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.
Other high-profile signers included Bad Robot coCEO and film titan J.J. Abrams and Emerson Collective President Laurene Powell Jobs.