Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida. /Katherine Welles/Shutterstock.com5 Companies That Have Entered the Firearms Debate
This week, Shopify joined a growing group of companies that have come out with new policies and strong statements in response to the ongoing debate over guns.
August 16, 2018 at 03:34 PM
3 minute read
On Wednesday, the popular e-commerce platform Shopify announced that it will no longer allow merchants to sell certain firearms and parts for those weapons.
According to The Seattle Times, Ottawa, Canada-based Shopify, which is used by more than 600,000 businesses globally, will no longer permit the sale of items including automatic weapons and silencers used with semi-automatic weapons.
Shopify is not the first company to make news for getting political about the ongoing gun debate. In the past year, an increasing number of companies have taken actions such as restricting discounts for National Rifle Association members and tightening controls around gun sales.
Though it's not clear how heavily legal departments have been involved in these specific decisions, there's little doubt that GCs everywhere have responsibility for a company's public positions, and that they often get a direct say (or get to be the speaker) when these companies get political.
Aside from Shopify, here are five other companies that made big statements or policy changes because of the gun debate.
- Dick's Sporting Goods: Following the realization that the company sold a shotgun to the perpetrator of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the retailer, whose legal department is led by John Hayes, announced in February that it would no longer sell “assault style rifles.” It also stopped selling firearms or ammunition to anyone under 21 years old.
- Walmart Inc.: After the Parkland shooting, Walmart also announced some changes. Like Dick's Sporting Goods, it raised the age of buying ammunition to 21. At the time, the company reiterated that back in 2015 it had stopped selling “modern sporting rifles” including the AR-15. Walmart's legal team is led by Karen Roberts.
- Bank of America Corp.: In April, Bank of America said that it will stop giving loans to manufacturers of “military-style firearms” that are sold for civilian use, according to The Washington Post. Vice chairwoman of the bank, Anne M. Finucane, made the announcement during a television interview. BOA's legal team is led by David G. Leitch.
- United Airlines Inc: In a tweet in February, the airline announced that it would no longer honor discounts to NRA members around the group's annual meeting. The announcement by the company, which counts Brett Hart as head of its legal department, was met with particular ire from NRA members. During a Q&A with CEO Oscar Munoz, an NRA member suggested the CEO and company were “virtue signaling,” though Munoz responded that the decision was personal and not political for the company.
- FedEx: Despite gun-control activists' threats to boycott the shipping company, FedEx said it will still honor NRA discounts following the Parkland shooting. It said that to remove those discounts would be to discriminate a group of people. However, in the same statement, the company said it disagrees with the NRA and does not believe that assault rifles should be in the hands of civilians. The legal team at FedEx is led by Mark Allen.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
US Reviewer of Foreign Transactions Sees More Political, Policy Influence, Say Observers
Ex-Red Robin CLO Joins Norton Rose Fulbright After Helping Sell Latest Employer for $4.9 Billion
Newly Public Biotech Startup Hires Life Sciences Veteran as GC
Trending Stories
- 1Senate Confirms Last 2 of Biden's California Judicial Nominees
- 2Morrison & Foerster Doles Out Year-End and Special Bonuses, Raises Base Compensation for Associates
- 3Tom Girardi to Surrender to Federal Authorities on Jan. 7
- 4Husch Blackwell, Foley Among Law Firms Opening Southeast Offices This Year
- 5In Lawsuit, Ex-Google Employee Says Company’s Layoffs Targeted Parents and Others on Leave
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
