The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) has sold its investment in Remington Outdoor, the parent company for Bushmaster firearms–the firearm that Adam Lanza stole and used in his his heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary.
The sale of Remington was demanded in light of CalSTRS’s post-Sandy Hook “decision to divest from banned firearm manufacturers–” and specifically, firearm manufacturers banned in California.
However, CalSTRS also sold its holdings in Ruger and Smith & Wesson, although both gun manufacturers make firearms that are not banned in California.
For example, the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mm is legal in California and is one of the most popular semiautomatics available right now. And Ruger has an entire webpage of firearms which are legal in California. Yet CalSTRS sold holding in both these manufacturers as well.
Numerous guns contained under the auspices of Remington Outdoor are California legal, too. These include Sig Sauer, Heckler & Koch, and Beretta.
It should also be noted that Smith & Wesson and Ruger were two of the gun industries’ biggest moneymakers at the time the CalSTRS sold them. But as Breitbart News previously reported, California Federation of Teachers’ president Joshua Pechthalt made clear his overarching belief that divesting in gun companies is the right thing to do, even if it means “a slight loss” to retirement funds.
The Sacramento Bee reports that CalSTRS serves “more than 879,000 educators.” The fund’s stake in Remington was part of a “$375 million investment” in Cerberus Capital Management.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him direclty at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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