Nuns' Response to 'Heinous Gun Crimes': a Lawsuit

A group of Catholic nuns is suing Smith & Wesson, demanding the gunmaker stop selling assault weapons that have "no purpose other than mass murder." The nuns representing four congregations in Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Oregon bought up shares in the company before suing in what they dub "shareholder activism," per the Washington Post. In filing a derivative lawsuit Tuesday in Nevada, the nuns seek to hold Smith & Wesson's board liable for breaches of their duties to shareholders. They claim directors exposed the company to significant liability by ignoring "red flags," failing to address some of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history, and by intentionally violating state and federal laws, including through the alleged marketing of its guns to young people.

In a statement, the nuns said AR-style rifles "have stolen the lives of so many innocent people and devastated communities across the nation," per the Post. Such weapons also make it "more difficult and more dangerous for law enforcement to respond" to mass killings, the lawsuit states. Yet Smith & Wesson is "seemingly unfazed by the exponential rise in gun deaths and mass shootings carried out with its product." It doesn't have a system for "tracking injuries and deaths caused by" its rifles, according to the suit. It goes on to claim Smith & Wesson's allegedly illegal marketing of its guns to young people through advertisements mimicking first-person shooter games has contributed to "many of the most heinous gun crimes in United States history," per the Wall Street Journal.

The nuns, who own about 1,000 total shares of Smith & Wesson, have used similar strategies against other companies, including General Electric. This is thought to be the first time a derivative lawsuit "has been brought against gunmakers over the manufacture and marketing of guns," per the Journal. Smith & Wesson, which noted in its 2022 annual report that it could be forced to pay significant damages as a result of legal proceedings, hasn't commented, per Reuters. A member of a gunmakers trade group called the lawsuit frivolous, per the Journal. The complaint's first page is almost entirely taken up by a photo from the scene of the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, showing a pair of pink flip-flops amid blood splatter. "It's horrific. That's the point," said the nuns' attorney, per the Post. (More assault rifles stories.)