High school students protest outside the White House after the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas.Erin Scott/Zuma
People are saying mean things about guns—and guns can’t defend themselves. That’s the message from Vista Outdoor, the $2.3 billion holding company that owns Savage Arms, one of America’s largest gun makers.
The company’s lament about our armed yet impolite society was dug up by Think Progress in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In it, the company notes that the “use of social media to disseminate negative commentary and boycotts may adversely impact our business,” particularly in the wake of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, in February. In other words, those pissed-off #NeverAgain teens and other anti-gun violence activists may be having an effect on gun companies’ bottom lines. As Vista gripes, “The harm may be immediate without affording us an opportunity for redress or correction.” Welcome to the internet.
Vista cited recent boycott campaigns against gun manufacturers as well as retailers’ decision to no longer stock its brands. Shortly after the Parkland shooting, REI announced that it would stop selling Vista brands such as CamelBak. Dick’s Sporting Goods said it would no longer sell assault-type rifles and that it will destroy its remaining inventory of those guns (much to the dismay of the National Rifle Association).
