RESOLVED: Shareholders request Sturm Ruger publish a report with the results of a Human Rights Impact Assessment, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary/confidential information, examining the actual and potential human rights impacts of Sturm Ruger firearms sold to civilians.

WHEREAS:

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)[i] state that companies have a responsibility to respect human rights within their operations and throughout their value chains. This responsibility entails that companies should know their human rights risks and impacts; take concrete steps to prevent, mitigate, and remediate adverse impacts when they occur; and publicly communicate how they are addressing their most severe impacts on people connected with their business.

The inherent lethality of firearms exposes all gun makers to elevated human rights risks. In selling its firearms to civilians, Ruger assumes they will be used safely, and while that is mainly the case, the grave threat for product misuse and resulting harm to society is not accounted for in Ruger’s governance structures or in policies or practices that would mitigate this threat.

According to a 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center[ii], 44% of Americans say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and gun owners are more likely than non-gun owners to know someone who has been shot (51% vs. 40%). While Sturm Ruger recently developed and posted a human rights policy to its website, the policy fails to address Ruger’s most severe human rights risk; that of the potential harm that can result from the misuse of its firearms in violent events.

In 2019, in response to a shareholder proposal that achieved majority support, Ruger published a report on its measures to address gun safety.[iii] It should be noted that this report failed to put forward meaningful solutions to address gun violence. Moreover, the report did not assess or address the company’s human rights risks.

Shareholders are increasingly urging their portfolio companies to put processes in place to identify, assess, and, where appropriate, address human rights risks. Human rights risks have direct implications for shareholder value and, depending on whether and how they are managed, can be a bellwether for a company’s long-term viability.

A company’s efforts to demonstrate that its policies and practices reflect internationally accepted human rights standards can lead to successful and sustainable business planning, and improved relations with, customers, workers, communities, investors and business partners.

SUPPORTING STATEMENT:

In developing the assessment, proponents recommend that Ruger include the following information:

• International human rights standards used to frame the assessment;
• Actual and potential adverse impacts associated with Ruger’s sales of firearms to civilians, and;
• Overview of how the findings will be integrated across relevant internal functions and processes in order to prevent, and, where appropriate, mitigate impacts.

It is further recommended that, throughout the risk assessment process, stakeholders, including those who have suffered adverse impacts, be consulted.

[i] https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/GuidingprinciplesBusinesshr_eN.pdf

[ii] https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/guns-and-daily-life-identity-experiences-activities-and-involvement/#dangerous-encounters-with-guns-vary-by-gun-ownership-key-demographics

[iii] https://ruger.com/corporate/PDF/8K-2019-02-08.pdf