WHEREAS, According to the Pew Research Center, 53 percent of Americans believe that the ease with which people legally can obtain guns contributes to the gun violence epidemic in America, and 47 percent believe that if it were more difficult for people to legally obtain guns there would be fewer mass shootings; and

WHEREAS, The California Department of Justice reported 2,516,836 known firearm owners as of January 1, 2019, showing a 171-percent increase in known firearm ownership since 2008; and

WHEREAS, The State of California has deposit accounts with banking subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Union Bank MUFG, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo & Co., among others; and

WHEREAS, Four of the nation’s largest gun manufacturers, Remington Outdoor Company, Smith & Wesson, Sturm, Ruger, & Co., and Vista Outdoors, that manufactured guns involved in mass shootings such as New Life Church, Aurora, Colorado, Sutherland Springs Church, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and Columbine High School, are customers of banks with which the State of California has had, or has, a business relationship; and

WHEREAS, Bank of America has reconsidered its relationship with gun manufacturers and thus has limited its number of clients that manufacture assault weapons for nonmilitary use demonstrating an understanding of what it can contribute to meeting the shared responsibility for gun reform; and

WHEREAS, Citibank, one of America’s largest banks, served as an exemplar for gun policies by adopting a policy prohibiting the sales of firearms by its business customers to individuals who have not passed a background check or are younger than 21 years of age, and bars the sale of bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, to promote gun safety for communities; and

WHEREAS, A group of investors and financial managers, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), State Street Global Advisors, San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System, and nine others, with assets equal to $4.8 trillion, have come together to ask the civilian firearms industry to comply with five principles that include safer and more traceable technology, adoption of responsible dealer practices, establishment of complete background checks, and education and training of employees at distributors; and

WHEREAS, Former California State Treasurer, John Chiang, called on CalPERS and CalSTRS board members to divest the pension fund’s holdings in wholesalers or retailers of banned assault weapons in California; and

WHEREAS, CalSTRS, in order to be consistent with its values, divested from Remington Outdoor Company in 2015; now, therefore, be it