Divesting as a form of protest and coercion has been around for many decades. South Africa Free, S&P portfolios in the 1980s that largely brought Apartheid to an end, and Dolphin-safe Tuna in the late 80s are some examples of how people have successfully brought about huge social change without the two houses of Congress agreeing on anything.

Bring unwanted attention to the manufacturers of assault-style weapons

Some Teachers in Florida were alarmed to learn that the Florida State Retirement System pension plan, in which they were invested and had contributed to, held more than 40,000 shares, according to Bloomberg News, of the former Smith & Wesson company. That is the company that manufactured the AR-15 used in the latest Florida school shooting. That revelation prompted the statewide teacher’s union president to call for the divestiture of all shares of the American Outdoor Brands Corp (formerly Smith & Wesson). While a spokesperson for the state pension plan said that that is not likely to happen soon, reports the Washington Post, it doesn’t mean that a small snowball couldn’t be created.

We put an end to Apartheid, we can get assault weapons off our store shelves

The snowball I am talking about could be started by students in schools across the country waging meaningful peaceful protests, if not in high schools, then on college campuses. Teachers in every state could do the same. Or, corporate America could step up as it is showing some appetite to do in recent days. It was college campus protests in the 1980s that directly led to huge college and university endowment funds to divest from companies doing business in South Africa. That snowball grew into many large corporate portfolios and pension funds following suit - that eventually led to the downfall of Apartheid in South Africa.

If that could be accomplished for social change that needed to happen on another continent, then it could certainly happen for the change that needs to happen in our own country.

'Hey, Hey the NRA'

No one needs to upset the apple cart that is the NRA. No one needs to take the decal off their windshield. I know what it means to belong to a club. I used to enjoy wearing canary yellow slacks and an Izod shirt on the weekends strolling around on the golf course. It becomes part of your identity, who you are how you see yourself. No worries, mate. Second amendment, here, here! No one needs to convince a congressman or women to take food off their table, by committing political suicide. That system is broken, so let’s not go there.

No one wants assault weapons on the market, they just don't want the 'Feds' to take'em!

One of the aforementioned groups simply needs to call for the divestiture, in their 401k or pension plan, in any firearms company that produces a civilian form of automatic or semi-automatic weapon for sale in North America. The names of those publicly traded companies will become widely known, awareness and unwanted attention will follow, and eventually, you will see the sales of those weapons cease. It may take five years, but it will work. There are already socially responsible mutual funds and ETF’s in existence. Soon I would speculate you will see AWF (pron. aw-f) Funds. Assault Weapon Free Funds being requested by pension funds, banks, insurance companies, and their money managers until they become ubiquitous. And, that’s a formula for a movement.