A pension fund for Chicago public employees has voted to divest its holdings in three companies that manufacture assault weapons, an official with the fund confirmed on Thursday. The Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund (MEABF) voted on Wednesday to sell off just over $1 million in investments in Freedom Group Inc, Sturm Ruger and Co Inc and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp, MEABF Executive Director Jim Mohler told Reuters.The move comes in response to the shooting last month at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 first graders and six educators dead, shocking the nation and sparking a heated debate over gun control in the United States.The fund delayed making a formal announcement to ensure its exposure to assault weapons makers was limited to the three companies, Mohler said. It joins public pension funds in California, New York and elsewhere that have said they either planned to dump firearms investments from their portfolios or were weighing such an option.Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who ordered a review of the city's pension funds last week to see if they were invested in gun makers, welcomed the move.
Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Smith & Wesson) is a manufacturer of firearms. Shares of SWHC traded higher by 0.34% or $0.03/share to $8.93. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $4.93 and as high as $11.25. On average, 4723400 shares of SWHC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3330563.
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