antigun activists

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DICK’S To Sell 8 Field & Stream Stores

October 4, 2019 by 4 Comments

The anti-rights policies of Dick’s Sporting Goods are coming home to roost. Sportsman’s Warehouse announced that they were acquiring eight existing Field & Stream stores from Dicks.

MIDVALE, Utah, Sept. 30, 2019  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, Inc.  (Nasdaq: SPWH) announced today that it has entered into agreements with DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE: DKS) to acquire 8 Field & Stream locations. The acquired stores will be operated as Sportsman’s Warehouse stores and are located in Pennsylvania (3), New York (2), North Carolina (2) and Michigan (1). The total purchase price of $28 million for inventory and assets will be funded through borrowings under Sportsman’s revolving credit facility. Sportsman’s will sublease the eight locations from DICK’S.  The transaction is expected to close on October 11, 2019 subject to customary closing conditions.

This acquisition is consistent with Sportsman’s strategy to return to a more typical store growth pattern, following a period of investment in omni-channel capabilities, technology, and debt reduction over the last two years.


“We are very pleased to announce this opportunistic expansion of our current 95 store base through the acquisition of these 8 Field & Stream locations. Each of these stores operate in strong markets, with well-established customer bases. We look forward to serving these communities with our continued strong commitment to provide outstanding gear and exceptional service to inspire outdoor memories.” said Jon Barker, Chief Executive Officer.

DICK’S CEO Ed Stack said in August that the company is engaging in a “broader strategic review of our hunt business, including Field & Stream.”

Translated this means that “you damned bitter clingers have decided to shop elsewhere because of my anti-rights, gun control posturing.”

That would be pretty much correct. I haven’t stepped foot in either a DICK’S or a Field & Stream since Stack decided it was good business to virtue signal on gun control.

While DICK’S has made no formal announcement on their website of the sale (unlike Sportsman’s Warehouse), Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wires has more on the sale.

The industry was outraged when Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) announced it would remove guns from its nationwide chain. Now, it appears the company is quietly abandoning their Field & Stream stores as well.


Yesterday, it was reported that Dick’s was selling eight of its 35 Field & Stream branded stores to Sportsman’s Warehouse. Seems Utah-based Sportsman’s Warehouse feels the locations (Camp Hill and Altoona, PA, Horseheads and Rochester, NY, Greensboro and Asheville, NC and Troy, Michigan) are “opportunistic expansion” openings and worth the reported $28-million purchase price.


In fact, Sportsman’s Warehouse CEO Jon Baker described the eight locations as “strong markets with well-established customer bases.” All good for a company that has solidly identified with hunters and the shooting markets.


Dick’s has yet to clearly state what has become, essentially, a foregone conclusion- they plan to remove hunting gear from all their Dick’s locations (125 more this year) and dispose of the remaining 27 Field & Stream brand stores as quickly as is practicable.

I, for one, am pleased to be getting a Sportsman’s Warehouse in Asheville. The old Field & Stream store is in a good location, has an exterior that screams outdoors, and is next to the Asheville Outlet Mall. This is just the type of outdoors store that we have been waiting for in western North Carolina.

The Greensboro location is also ideal for Sportsman’s Warehouse. While the Piedmont Triad does have a couple of Gander Outdoors stores and an Academy Sports, there is nothing like a Sportman’s Warehouse, Cabela’s, or Bass Pro Shops in the area. The closest would be either the Raleigh area or the Charlotte area.

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Nuns Meddling Again

July 23, 2019 by 3 Comments

You may remember that last year that a group of Catholic nuns sponsored shareholder resolutions at both Ruger and American Outdoor Brands (S&W). The resolutions passed and both companies were forced to issue reports on “gun violence” (sic). According to a letter sent out today by American Outdoor Brands Corporation, they are back again with a new resolution. This new proposal, couched in terms of a UN Human Rights policy, “seeks to impose an obligation for the company to assume liability for undefined
“societal impacts” of violence committed with firearms.”

Think about that: American Outdoor Brands would be liable for the criminal misuse of Smith & Wesson firearms. No company in its right mind would voluntarily assume such liability. It is as if Ford, GM, Toyota, etc. would now assume the liability for people driving their cars while drunk and injuring or killing someone. It’s ludicrous!

Here is the proposal:

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors of American Outdoor Brands adopt a
comprehensive policy articulating our company’s commitment to respect human rights, and which includes a
description of proposed due diligence processes to identify, assess, prevent and mitigate actual and potential
adverse human rights impacts.


WHEREAS,

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (hereinafter UNGPs) state:

The responsibility to respect human rights requires that business enterprises: (a) Avoid causing or contributing to
adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and address such impacts when they occur; [and] (b)
Seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or
services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.

In order to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, business enterprises should have in place policies
and processes appropriate to their size and circumstances, including . . . [a] policy commitment to meet their
responsibility to respect human rights.

As investors, we seek to identify and assess human rights risks and impacts in portfolio companies as they have
direct implications for shareholder value and, depending on whether and how they are managed, are a bellwether
for a company’s long-term viability.

Given the lethality of firearms products and the potential for their misuse, in direct contradiction with the
company’s stated objective of providing “next-generation guns for sport, recreation, protection and personal use”,
the risk of adverse human rights impacts is especially elevated for all gun manufacturers, including American
Outdoor Brands.

Companies exposed to human rights risks may incur significant legal, reputational and financial costs that are
material to investors. A public-facing human rights policy that includes a human rights due diligence process is
essential to managing these risks. For this reason, hundreds of global corporations have adopted human rights
policies, including British American Tobacco, Exxon and Walmart.

The Board of Directors are not amused by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, U.S.-Ontario.

Proponent’s Resolution and supporting statement cites the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and
uses vague terms that do not alert shareholders to the specific obligations the Resolution, if adopted, would impose on our
company. The Proponent discusses a “human rights policy” and “human rights risks” but nowhere are those terms
explained. Given that the Proponent is a signatory to a statement seeking the regulation of the private ownership of
firearms, their failure to explain the specific application of their proposal to our company is, by itself, a significant
deficiency in the proposal and reason for rejection. But even worse is that the Resolution requires our company to address
all of what Proponent would claim are the societal impacts of violence committed with firearms, beyond any legal
obligation to do so. Simply put, the Resolution if adopted could potentially hold our company responsible for the illegal
misuse of firearms and the violence associated with such misuse.


Similarly, Proponent insists on “due diligence processes to identify, assess, prevent and mitigate actual and potential
human rights impacts.” Again, not a single one of these terms is defined or explained by Proponent. The Proponent’s
failure to explain and define their request makes it quite literally impossible for anyone to understand not only what
Proponent would claim is the scope of the obligation, but also its costs.

The full letter and proposal can be found here.

While many investment companies voted with the nuns last year, I would hope that they have the good sense to realize the implications of the passage of such a dangerous proposal. It is nothing less than a call for the destruction of a company founded more than a century and a half ago. Though raised and still nominally a Catholic, I am having less than pious thoughts about this group of nuns and those that would vote with them.

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No Changes To What Ruger Makes And Sells

May 10, 2018 by 3 Comments

A shareholder proposal put forth by Catholic Health Initiatives and the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment for a vote by Ruger shareholders passed. The proposal which was opposed by the board of directors requires the company to prepare a report on “on how it tracks violence associated with its firearms, what kind of research it is conducting related to so-called smart gun technology and its assessment of the risks that gun-related crimes pose to the company’s reputation and finances.”

The measure was spearheaded by Colleen Scanlon who is the chief advocacy officer for Catholic Health Initiatives which is an organization of over 100 Catholic run hospitals.

From CNN Money:

The proposal was spearheaded by Colleen Scanlon, senior vice president and chief advocacy officer for Catholic Health Initiatives, a system of hospitals and academic institutions. Her organization was one of four shareholders who spoke at the meeting, and all of them asked the Ruger executives what they were going to do about gun violence and gun safety.

“We as shareholders are saying that gun violence is significant enough that you, as a gun company, need to address what your responsibility to gun safety is,” said Scanlon to CNNMoney.

She said that hospitals within the Catholic health system have treated many patients with gunshot wounds, and she wants Ruger to focus on smart gun technology. She said that her institution was one of 11 religious shareholder organizations to draft the proposal

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see them leading an effort about making a smarter gun, like fingerprint activated guns and tracking systems for finding lost or stolen guns, like with iPhones?” she said. “We know that gun owners are responsible and sensible people, but we know that guns can end up in the wrong hands.”

You can read the shareholder proposal here along with the rationale given for its passage. I would note that any supporting documentation that relies on the Violence Policy Center is suspect. The firm Institutional Investor Services which advises on shareholder proposal urged passage which I assume is the reason some of the major institutional investors vote for it.

Ruger sent out an email this evening with their response to the passage of the shareholder proposal.

The same coalition that pushed this anti-gun nonsense on Ruger will be attempting to do the same thing to American Outdoor Brands Company aka Smith & Wesson. This is the danger that we should come to expect in the future for firearms companies and those that do business with them. I foresee a time in the not too distant future when you will see most of these public companies going private to avoid having to deal with this.

I think it is important that you know just which religious orders are behind these proposals. I’m Catholic but I’ll be damned if I agree with any of these nuns. I certainly wouldn’t be making any contributions to their orders.

Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment

  • Adrian Dominican Sisters
  • Benedictine Sisters of Cottonwood, Idaho
  • Benedictine Sisters of Mt Angel
  • Congrégation des Soeurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie
  • Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
  • Jesuits West
  • PeaceHealth
  • Providence Health & Services
  • Northwest Women Religious Investment Trust
  • Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, U.S. Ontario Province
  • Sisters of Providence, Mother Joseph Province
  • Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
  • Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon
  • Tacoma Dominicans

Catholic Health Initiatives

Thirteen congregations of women religious either founded or later joined Catholic Health Initiatives. These congregations support and influence the mission of Catholic Health Initiatives and its public juridic person, Catholic Health Care Federation. Each Congregation appoints a person to represent them at semi-annual meetings with the Board of Stewardship Trustees.

Esther Anderson, OSF, PhD
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Alice Armata, OP
Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena
Taos, New Mexico

Nadine Heimann, OSF
Sisters of St. Francis of Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Joanne Klinnert, OSF
Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota
Little Falls, Minnesota

Joan Elizabeth Cook, SC
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio

Sharon Ford, RSM
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, West Midwest Community
Omaha, Nebraska

Sally Marie Kiepura, CSFN
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth
Des Plaines, Illinois

Mary Jo Lewis, MD
Associate Member
Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Fargo, North Dakota

Ann Marie Friederichs, OSF
Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Heart of MaryHankinson, North Dakota
Hankinson, North Dakota

Susan Gatz, SCN
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth
Nazareth, Kentucky

Francis Schumacher, OSB
Benedictine Sisters of Mother of God Monastery
Watertown, South Dakota

Diane Traffas, OP
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Columbus, Ohio

Sr. Mary Jon Wagner, OSF
Sylvania Franciscans
Sylvania, Ohio

Representative of Partnering Congregations

Sr. Nancy Miller, OSB
Benedictine Sisters of Annunciation Monastery
Bismarck, ND

UPDATE: The full transcript of the Ruger annual meeting can be found here. You will note some of the nonsensical questions posed to Ruger CEO Chris Killoy by “religious leaders”.

UPDATE II: For an excellent summary of the shareholder proposal accomplished, please read this editorial by Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wire. He compared it to a fly buzzing around a cow. It is pestering rather than the steering claimed by proponents.