January 23, 2013

Statement from Mayor Emanuel on Today's Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund's Decision to Divest $1 Million from Three Assault Weapons Companies

Mayor's Press Office    312.744.3334

“I applaud the Chicago Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund board for divesting more than $1 million from three companies that manufacture assault weapons. These companies stand against commonsense safety laws to keep our police officers and children safe, and they must stop impeding our effort to get military-style weapons off of America’s streets, to mandate a criminal background check on all gun purchases, and to push the Federal government to crack down on straw purchasers. I will continue to encourage every city leader to ask their pension and retirement fund managers to determine if they have invested in a company that manufactures or sells assault weapons and ask them to remove these investments from their funds, just as we have done.”

Last weekend at the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Washington, DC, Mayor Rahm Emanuel called on city leaders from the across country to follow Chicago’s lead and sever all ties with companies that manufacture or sell assault weapons. Earlier in the week, Mayor Emanuel ordered a portfolio analysis from the five pension and retirement funds for Chicago employees to determine if fund managers hold underlying debt or equity positions in companies that manufacture or sell assault weapons as the first step towards removing these companies from the investment plans. He is also asking Chicago’s sister agencies – the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago Park District – to conduct the same review.  The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, which has $9.5 billion in assets, voted on Thursday to divest its $146,000 of investments with gun manufacturing companies.

 

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