The city should divest from Walmart stock because the retailer is the country’s biggest gun seller, Public Advocate Letitia James said Wednesday.
Ticking off a list of mass shootings, James said city pension dollars should not be invested in a store that sells so many of the dangerous weapons.
“Guns are an instrument of death, and no one sells guns better than Walmart,” she said. “We cannot allow New York City pension dollars to fuel gun violence.”
The city’s five pension funds have nearly $300 million invested in Walmart. The largest fund, known as NYCERS, where James is a trustee, owns 1.4 million shares worth $109 million.
In a letter to the trustees of the pension systems pushing them to ditch Walmart stock, she said gun sales could also open shareholders up to liability.
“As a city and as trustees to our pension, we still profit from this violence, while exposing us to risk and uncertainty in our holdings,” she wrote.
James plans to introduce a resolution at the next NYCERs meeting to mandate a review of the effects of divesting.
Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the store won’t comment on any group’s decision to sell shares, but defended the chain’s record on guns.
“In areas of the country where we sell firearms, we have a long-standing commitment to do so safely and responsibly through trained associates and in compliance with our standards, which greatly exceed what is required by law,” he said, noting the store doesn’t sell handguns outside of Alaska and doesn’t sell high capacity magazines, and does background checks for gun buyers.
Walmart has been a popular political target for New York officials, who criticize its anti-union stance among other issues, but James insisted that had nothing to do with her choice to go after the store over guns.
