Democrats Vilify Guns, Own Stock in Gun Companies

Several Democrats who have come out against the evils of guns since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary have also made money by investing in gun companies. Many are still making money with investments in those manufacturers now, even as they attempt to ban their products. 

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), for example, is a proponent of an “assault weapons” ban, who in the meantime is enjoying the money her husband makes off a $50,000 investment in the Vanguard Small Cap Growth Index fund. As of Jan. 18, that fund included 219,918 shares of stock in Ruger Firearms.

Meanwhile, Senator Clair McCaskill (D-MO) has approximately $100,000 in the iShare Russell 2000 Growth Index. That fund held 254,290 shares of stock in Ruger Firearms as of Jan. 18, along with shares of Smith & Wesson as well.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has approximately $100,000 in the iShares S&P Small Cap 600 Growth Index–a fund which was the “the 16th largest holder” of Ruger Firearms stock as of mid-January.

It’s not just individual investments, either: city pensions in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago own significant shares of funds that are heavily invested in gun companies, as are city pensions in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s New York City. 

In Chicago, the city’s teachers’ retirement fund has about $12 million partially invested in the company that owns Bushmaster firearms–makers of the AR-15 Adam Lanza used at Sandy Hook–as well as funds that include shares of Ruger Firearms and Smith & Wesson.

Investing in gun companies makes sense for these Democrats if they want to make money: since Obama’s election to the presidency in 2008, the value of a share of Ruger Firearms alone has gone from approximately five dollars to fifty-two dollars in Jan. 2013.