A shareholder proposal passed at the annual meeting of AOBC (Smith & Wesson) after Do Not Stand Idly By and ally Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility worked to build support for the proposal. This is the second shareholder resolution to pass requiring a major gun company to report on the use of their products in gun violence and about the development of safer gun products in four months -- shareholders in Sturm Ruger passed an identical resolution in May.

In the weeks leading up to the AOBC meeting, an important breakthrough was made -- due to greater work by sister IAF organizations AIM, in Montgomery County, MD and The Metropolitan Organization, in Houston, TX, DNSIB gained the public support of the leadership of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.  Montgomery County Chief Manger and Houston Chief Acevedo not only wrote to the CEO of AOBC calling on them to engage with them to develop a safety plan, but also co-authored an Op-Ed piece with two IAF clergy leaders that ran in the Houston Chronicle. 

The company's management was vigorously opposed to the resolution, which they made clear both in writing before the meeting and verbally during the meeting, so this win is even more significant given the number of shares that Executives and Board Members typically control.

This shareholder pressure and police chiefs pressure, coupled with the purchasing power leverage that has been organized through the Do Not Stand Idly By campaign for several years (see RFI now with 130 jurisdictions on board) has the looks of a winning combination.