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Parkland Shooting Survivor David Hogg Asks Twitter Followers To Boycott BlackRock And Vanguard

Parkland Shooting Survivor David Hogg Asks Twitter Followers To Boycott BlackRock And Vanguard

David Hogg isn’t backing down on his anti-gun stance.

One of the school shooting survivors in Parkland, Fla., he has been speaking out across the country about gun violence and now he is asking his Twitter followers to boycott the country’s two largest investment-management companies — BlackRock and Vanguard — over their holdings in gun companies.

Hogg, 18,  is a survivor of February’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead. He has become a vocal anti-gun advocate and has amassed more than 760,000 Twitter followers.

“(BlackRock) and (Vanguard) are two of the biggest investors in gun manufacturers; if you use them, feel free to let them know,” Hogg tweeted, with the hashtags #BoycottVanguard and #BoycottBlackRock.

According to Market Watch, BlackRock is the largest institutional shareholder of gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co. and the second-largest investor of Vista Outdoor Inc. — a manufacturer and marketer of outdoor sports and recreation products including guns, and Smith & Wesson Corp. parent American Outdoor Brands Corp.

Vanguard is the second-largest shareholder of Sturm Ruger, and third-largest shareholder of American Outdoor Brands and Vista Outdoor.

Hogg led a recent national advertising boycott of Fox host Laura Ingraham’s show after she insulted him and the other Parkland activists on air. He called for a boycott of her show and she lost several sponsors. Ingraham lost 24 sponsors, The Cut reported on April 12.

Now Hogg is taking on those who invest in gun manufacturing. The investment-management giants are taking notice.

“Vanguard is taking action, meeting with the leaders of gun manufacturers and distributors. We want to know how they will mitigate the risks that their products pose and how they plan to help prevent such tragedies from happening again,” Vanguard said in a statement.

“We believe that when a business poses a risk to society, it can also pose a risk to investors. We are expressing this viewpoint directly with company leaders because we believe greater focus and transparency on these issues will ultimately benefit society and investors alike,” Vanguard added.

BlackRock recently stripped retailers that sell guns from some of its exchange-traded funds. It also said it would offer two new ETFs that will not include gun makers and retailers. “Aside from offering the FTSE Social Index Fund, which excludes gun makers, Vanguard told CNN that 359 of its 388 funds do not directly invest in gun makers,” Market Watch reported.

Meanwhile, Hogg and his younger sister, Lauren, have nabbed a book deal about the making of #NeverAgain movement. The book, #NeverAgain, is scheduled to be released June 5, according to USA Today.

According to the book publisher, Penguin Random House, the book will be 128 pages and will act as a guide to the student-led movement and detail the “voices of a new generation that are speaking truth to power, and are determined to succeed where their elders have failed.”