A week ago, two people were killed in a mass shooting at UNC Charlotte that was only one of several shootings in Charlotte that week.
Yesterday, one student was killed and several injured in a mass shooting at a high school in the Denver suburbs.
As of now (5/8), there have been 118 mass shootings in 2019. There have been eleven since the UNC Charlotte shooting.
In 2018, the gun manufacturing industry made a profit of $1.5 billion. Gun and ammunition stores made a profit of nearly $500 million.
Guns killed nearly 40,000 Americans last year. Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA, makes more than $1 million per year, sometimes as much as $5 million. The CEO’s of gun companies all make millions of dollars a year. For example, Christopher J. Killoy, president, CEO & director, Sturm, Ruger & Company, received $2.5 million in total compensation in 2016. P. James Debney, CEO & president, American Outdoor Brands Corporation (formerly Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation) received $5.3 million in 2017.
Laurence D. Fink, CEO & chairman, Blackrock Inc., the largest institutional shareholder of American Outdoor Brands Corporation, said this in his letter to shareholders in 2018:
“Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate.”
Fink’s total compensation in 2016 was $25.5 million.
The reference in the title of this post is to Allen Ginsberg.
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