What do Dick’s Sporting Goods, Levi Strauss and RXR Realty Have in Common?

By Ready to Fire News On Mar 1, 2019

Our “favorite” CEOs are at it again — standing up in unity against those evil gun-slingers in America. The top executives of four of the largest brands in the country have decided to go out on a moral limb and declare war on the Second Amendment rights of Americans, and it’s time to expose their tactics.

Under the auspice of ending gun violence in America, the CEOs of TOMS Shoes, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Levi Strauss and RXR Realty have joined forces to send an open letter to encourage Congress to pass a bill that requires each gun sale in America to require a background check before the sale can be finalized.

You would think that Dick’s Sporting Goods would have at least figured out that shoppers don’t want a side of judgment with their purchases, especially when their shares and share of market dropped after their first anti-gun fiasco. Apparently, they haven’t learned much, as now they’re teaming up with some more liberal-minded leaders who are determined to do what they can to “show customers that we are engaged in the issues that matter most to them”, as quoted by Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes.

It isn’t surprising that the shoe company, a portion of whose sales are already used to support clean water and eye care overseas. What is surprising is that brands that you might think of as traditionally American such as Levi Strauss has decided to allow their head honchos to speak out against something that has to infuriate their core customers.

While CEOs such as Mycoskie are already feeling the burn as 12% of TOMS Shoes customers will now refuse to make a purchase, the business leaders are still reiterating that it’s important for them to take a greater leadership role in social responsibility. Apparently, it’s not important to their stakeholders that the organization make solid goods and services — it’s more important that figureheads take a stance on reducing the rights of Americans to bear arms.

One voice of reason comes from a Dartmouth College business professor, who notes that the businessmen so far are speaking out of passion, and may be overstepping their reach as heads of large organizations. Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty in New York, is a developer who seems not to be interested in presenting his organization in a neutral light as he also was one of the few individuals who signed this open letter.

It remains to be seen exactly how the legislation will play out, but it will certainly be a challenge to pass the law through a Republican-controlled Senate. Until then, the airhead CEOs are likely to continue pontificating about the failures of society — mostly caused by people who are merely exercising their Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

~ Ready to Fire News