A Bearish Boycott Underway
In the aftermath of what is viewed as the most horrific mass murder spree to date, and part of a disturbing trend that concerned citizens worldwide hope to bring to a screeching halt, individuals are quietly calling on their money managers and investment firms this week and demanding they sever any and all financial ties to gun manufacturers.
And in a curious show of conscience the financial industry is listening.
Schools, malls, movie theatres...
"We are all Adam Lanza's victims," is the clear message people are sending to Wall Street this week, as miniature coffins and griefstricken loved ones make a sad and somber journey to the tiny graves that have been freshly dug in Newtown Connecticut.
With that sorrowful sight being televised internationally a major sell-off has begun, and shares in gun companies have begun precipitously falling: Smith & Wesson
fell nearly 10 percent, Sturm Roger fell 7.7 percent, Forjas Taurus fell 3.8 percent, Olin fell 2.1 percent...just to name a few.
Those are staggering losses to sustain for only a few days trading, but most analysts from all sectors doubt it's just a "knee-jerk reaction" that will soon fade away.
People are frightened, and don't feel safe anywhere anymore.
The wake, wakes, and wake-up calls
In the immediate wake of the Sandy Hook Massacre, individual investors are not the only ones answering the wake-up call to assault weapon violence and transforming this tragic event into a watershed moment.
Cerberus Capital Management LP just announced yesterday it intends to sell Freedom Group, the largest U.S. manufacturer of firearms and ammunition and a prosperous part of many pension portfolios.
Other major public pension funds are also reviewing their gun-related investments as we speak, and it's predicted they will soon be following suit.
Cerberus Capital's Freedom Group makes the AR-15 Bushmaster assault rifle which was used by a 20-year-old psychotic to kill nearly two dozen first-graders ages six to seven and their unarmed female staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
The obsessive video-gamer showed up at the school just as morning classes were commencing dressed as a character from Call of Duty, a single-shooter game that features that same rifle.
Games like Call of Duty are developed and used by the U.S. military as well as many other armed forces for conditioning soldiers to kill.
Investigators report that baby killer Adam Lanza played these kind of violent videogames "for hours everyday" in a windowless basement of his home, to the apparent exclusion of any other activity.
The AR-15 Bushmaster assault weapon was part of his "doomsday prepper" mom's private arsenal. Lanza shot her to death as she lay in her bed sleeping, then took her car and guns to Sandy Hook school.
The weapons he brought there, and the flak jacket he donned, have become the uniform of choice for young mass murderers this century.
Violence and vows
With this year's announcement by U.S. military officials that they plan on redesigning their simulated killer programs to now include "female suicide bombers" in them, and the billion-dollar gaming industry's morbid penchant for imitation, public attention is also shifting to the role such popular sims play in the recent spate of massacres against unarmed civilians.
Those who've studied the negative impact graphicly violent games have on habitual players fear that adding female shooting targets in them will greatly increase the likelihood of more mass gunman targeting women and children. Perhaps even in teams, since these unstable types tend to copycat and are always competing for top scores.
This upcoming Friday has been designated as an international day of mourning and memorium for the Sandy Hook victims. In a self-conscious move this week, major spokesmen for the gaming community have publicly appealed for a virtual ceasefire in honor of that day.
Researchers note that besides dangerously elevating aggression in participants, these violent videogames are also psychologically addicting, so it's not known if any gamers will be able to abide by their leaders' request, even if they wanted to.
