From the New York Times. Michael borrow this issue today. Today the nations largest retail, says it will stop selling for kinds of omens used by MASH Europe's and call on Congress to consider a new ban on a solid financial columnist, Andrews Socket on white corporate Amerika is now in the business of regulating guns. Its thirty September fifth Andrew tell me about this email that you got so, sir. You might ask its midday Tuesday, actually about to get up to go. Grab lunch and I looked at my screen in an email popped up and it said

from Dog Macmillan Dugan Bill is the CEO of Walmart, the largest retailer in the country and the civic mine was Walmart next steps the email dear Andrew, I wonder, follow back up with you on the subject of firearms and ammunition and my eyes widened, and what is that saying so he ways out a multiparty plan in the wake of this terrible massacre that had taken place in Walmart store in El Paso, which twenty two people were killed about, how Walmart is gonna move forward and what steps they're going to to try to end gun violence, and he says one we're gonna, stop, selling stern and kind of amity

should the condemnation that often used in military style weapons the eight hour fifteen stout weapons. Do you hear so much about that are used in these mash hootings? He also says we're gonna stop selling handgun ammunition completely. In addition, all that, though, and maybe even more importantly, he says. Walmart is going to advocate the law makers, have a robust debate. Reinstating the assault weapon, Dame and, in addition to that says that Walmart is going to advocate for the government to fund research into gun violence, Peter Mink steps for Walmart. These are very big steps and unknown to me. Twenty minutes later, Walmart is putting out a series of statements, and this email was effect.

A heads up, but this was about to happen breaking news now from the world's largest retail just now. Walmart access will no longer Sal Ammunition for handguns or Foreshorten barreled rifles. The ammo can be used in a fault style weapons. Additionally, Walmart asking customers to no longer carry guns into its stores in open Terry States into my vote. To employ you see a Dublin billions and quote. We ve also been listening to a lot of people inside and outside our companies. We think about the role we can play in helping to make country safe up its clear to us that the status quo is unacceptable and in your wise to see your walmart sending this email with these plans to you before he makes a public to the rest of the world. Will, oddly enough, this story actually starts over a year, and a half ago now

The latest on the most recent deadly school shooting in America GUM and armed with an eight hour, fifteen semi automatic rifle and carrying multiple magazines, went on a deadly rampage at a high school in Parkland Florida after the mass shooting at the high school in parking for seventeen people are dead. Forty Other victims remain in the hospital. After that shooting life there really felt, like there was a moment why unprecedented and powerful tonight there are plans to do more at there was a huge activists- movement in this country, young, american took to the streets today in numbers likely not seen since the Vietnam WAR. The march far lives was a response to the massacre. Last month, in a little over six men ass, seventeen of our friends were taken from us. Fifteen were injured and everyone absolutely everyone in the Douglas Community was forever altered.

There was a real what seemed like conversation happening. Washington, don't worry about the Anna. Rather on our side. You guys here, for you so afraid of the array. There's nothing to be afraid of, and you know I'd have dinner with you. We have to fight of every once in a while. That's ok that there might actually be doing some change right. I will tell you they are doing what they think is right, but sometimes we then have to be very tough old enough to fight, but we need strong background checks for, but, interestingly to me,. People has a column is too covers business and finance and the World Wall Street. There was one group that nobody was focused on, and that was this business community that was supporting the gun industry and I started to think to myself. Washington may or may not get there and, of course they didn't, but Here's a group of people who have real influence. If you follow the money, you can really

start to see this remarkable ecosystem, which is supported the gun industry and I spent virtually the past year and a half You really writing columns, effectually, laying out all of the different players in this eco system and also addressed the kinds of roles and opportunities that existed for these companies to play in trying to end gun violence and tell me about this eco system. Describe it to me, when you mean what people think there's just gunmakers, but there's all of the suppliers to the gun maker. There are distributors, there are retailers, their credit card companies, credit card networks, credit card processors, thereof, banks behind all of these institutions, everybody's playing world. There are investors, and I took the position that there were,

an opportunity for these companies to do something here and what exactly was the opportunity you are asking them to take, while the first part was just to acknowledge that they were part of the ecosystem Many of them didn't want to acknowledge that they had anything to do with this. Most people didn't even see the connect Hence our ties, nobody would ever say a shooting that happened in high school has something to do with a bank that happens to be located on, Gavin you, for example, in one of the comments that I worked on. We identify in the majority of the mass shootings of the last decade in America that they were financed by credit cards and that in many cases the shooters could not have afforded. The guns that were used if they didn't have access to the credit card to the credit card itself, became a key to the shooting and the bank became unwitting conspirators, and you know some of this was inspired.

Actually buy what some of the online payment companies have already done, so companies like pay, pal and stripe and square and even apple pay had explicit policies that said the data transact on wine for sales Our guns and gun related merchandise, and I thought to myself if they can make that decision, can't others and, in addition, that you'd artist, I want to see some companies, including Walmart, take some early steps, so Walmart had instituted a new age limit, twenty one years old, no longer just team to biogas to buy a gun, they had eliminated hand guns from most their stores and they had eliminated a or fifteen's and other assault. Style guns completely

explain how you imagine all these different actors working together so that, ultimately, there are fewer mass shootings, which is obviously the goal. What exactly would retailers, banks and credit card companies do? What does it look like in practice? A resolute laid out for you, what say somebody, that's planning a mass shooting decides are gonna by two or three or four guns in the span of three or four weeks, and then they go online. They might by ammunition from somewhere else they might by body armor. You would think that the credit card industry, the banking industry and all of those retailers could affect it. We'll talk those sales and in the same way, that banks today

looking for anti money laundering or are looking for human trafficking, they save themselves. Okay, this is a suspicious purchase, they connect. That's they connect dot. This already exists. They just don't do it for guns, because they can't see the information they can't see. The information does the retailers don't provided and the networks haven't tried to create systems to allow for it. So it's a no evil here, no evil situation and you want to change. You want the financial,

to treat guns the way it currently treats issues like drugs or money laundering. Exactly- and I wanna be a hundred percent clear Here- the goal is not to prevent people from buying guns. These are legal products, one hundred percent the goal was to identify suspicious purchasing activity and then to either try to stop it at the register. Order reported so that law enforcement can take a second look, and so the real idea here is that if you could create this best practices cells approach, you can act. Change the dynamic in a mature way and as a coolness, distinct from a report on the newsroom. It sounds like you are taking the position that there's a kind of moral obligation within the financial system that, in your mind, they have not been a weakened to or are aware of that they can and should play a role in research.

Ding or monitoring gun sales in light of these mass shootings, absolutely its responsible especially in an environment in which lawmakers seems so deadlocked on everything, but nobody's going to step up, so you're encouraging these companies to take what would be pretty big steps tackle the question of gun control themselves to basic go outside the bounds of what we and I assume they normally think of as the response abilities of the private sector. So do they actually do it kind of we'll call a baby steps, one of the country's bigger Sporting goods retailers announced today that it will stop selling assault style rifles, along with the sale of any guns.

Those under twenty one, dick sporting goods come out. We actually sold the shooter a shotgun in in November of last year, and we looked at that found out that we did this. We had a pet and our stomach and said we don't want to be a part of this story. Behind Blackrock, the largest investor in the world, lab rock made public aid with the questions that it is asking of gunmakers and guns, sellers search, Cindy letters to gun manufacturers and retailers saying? What are you gonna do about gun, violence, questions, rain from litigation risks? Two guns, safety to background checks, city represent, is going to introduce new restrictions on business customers who sell guns. City group and Bank of America say we are no longer than a finance gun. Manufacturers will no longer who advise gunmakers thirty will require plans, not XL fire that anyone who has passed the background test or anyone under the age of twenty one and not to sell high capacity magazines there no longer.

Be our clients. So, from your perspective, there is some momentum here a little momentum and it felt there was going to be so even more momentum frankly, but then everything stopped by so silly group, which had announced that they were going to separate themselves from the gunmakers. This is now April. Two thousand eighteen, some of their senior executives, happened to go to a meeting with commissioners from the SSC, which is the regulatory body that overseas these banks in large part in the meeting was not really supposed to be the guns at all. It was mostly about alternative esoteric regulations that relate to the banks and so but at this meeting one of the commissioners, a conservative commissioner affected. We said we're not gonna help you on any of these things. Because of the position you ve taken on guns. Well, and once that got around Wall Street everybody put their pants down.

Goldman Sachs, in fact, was about to put out a public policy statement about the position they were gonna take related to guns, but upon hearing what the SSC had done, they start to rethink their position. So the message here is stay in your lan, or else it's a little bit like the message that supporters of gun rates absolutely send to elected officials in Washington in the case? Yes, you see they affected over see these banks every single day and so on. The priority list of other things that the banks are facing in dealing with. They can put guns in the backlog it right in Iceland calls from seals executives at all sorts of companies virtually every other day during that period, but by the summer those calls If we start to travel to this point in fields like you have reached the end of your capacity to influence this and the business world, Israel, as have the cost of engaging on guns, is probably just to hide their cooperation,

This is not their problem, especially if it's going to become a problem for them, I haven't given up. Sadly, the shootings didn't stop. Either we began with breaking news: a deadly mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso Texas. The numbers are staggering, so we had this terrible massacre, Walmart store in El Paso, wouldn't twenty two people were killed, and it was at that point where I went back to the computer, and this time I decided I was gonna, write an open letter to Douglas go in the sea of warmer to effectively say to whom you haven't. Than to claim in a way that no other sea own country does to address this and to engage in a conversation about gun violence in America because of what has just happened in the store.

You also have a now a moral responsibility to try to end this all the way back. Our work is giving one million dollars and talent grants to business is working to come the ongoing impacts of cuban nineteen as the world's largest network of remote professionals, their connecting existing teams with remote experts in tech, creative and operations, in an effort to help save lives and rebuild the economy, to learn more good upward dot com, slash work together, So, Andrew after the shooting in El Paso, you decide to go directly to the CEO of Walmart. What do you say in this letter tat? I was effectively saying to him:

you have leverage over the gunmakers. You have leverage over law makers. Your leverage over the financial industry go to them. Talk to them, force them to engage in a conversation about what everybody can do to fix it right. Walmart is AMOS for squeezing people on the issues that they care about my view is this was now an issue that they had to care about. So after I rode the a couple days later, Douglas Milon posted a memo which he also sent me as a letter to his employees. And in that letter said that he had heard from a lot of people throughout the country out this issue of gun violence and said that he wanted to take some time to try to figure out what Walmart cannot

do and what's your sense of what he is likely to do, given what Walmart is and his role and I've covered Walmart and dogma one for a long time now, and you can tell what he has always struggled with this issue of how far to go. You know this. Is it a company that, based in Arkansas this red state and Public statement that he were to make on a polarizing issue in America could have a backlash on the business and he'd seen it he'd watched it happen, dicks announced they were no longer gonna, sell assault, style guns. There a massive backlash. There were boycotts, earnings. And down the start. Price went down. You know when city group made their announcement. There were people cutting up their credit cards and posting pictures evident with her. So there are a lot of reasons for him to be cautious on this issue, and yet this week you get this email saying that dogma

Ceo of Walmart has decided to come out and take these steps around ammunition around stopping certain gun sales around going to Congress and saying We should be thinking about an assault weapons ban right. Can this was dramatic because up and told this point Walmart, even when they had taken steps to remove a our fifteen, for example, from their store, had never said that. The reason they were doing it was for social issues reason was always about the marketplace or something else. All of a sudden. The ceo, the largest retail in America, is talking about gun violence as a problem

the status quo is no longer acceptable. So how do you understand his decision? Why think when twenty two people dying or store, it really makes you rethink what you're willing to say. I also think there's a shift in public opinion is country towards more gun, control and background checks in reasonable sales processes. Then there has been a very long time and most of what he's proposed frankly, is not that controversial at all. In fact, a lot of critics would say it hasn't gone far enough or let's talk about what it actually will be doing. These moves that he's just announced. What's the practical impact on them? Well, let's take what Walmart suing and ammunition they sell twenty percent of all the ammunition. Dublin. No one is now saying that after these policies are put in place, they also somewhere between six and nine percent, of ammunition with countries so cut down by more than a more than half in Washington.

He's writing letters directly to the president. He's writing letters directly to Congress, saying we are asking you to have a debate around the assault weapon ban that real, when the sea of largest retailer in the country which, by the way, is also one the biggest lobbyists in Washington speaks people with it. So what's the impact of it or something, but it's not everything. The question is whether it now gives licence to the rest of corporate Amerika to join him. If that happens, we might actually look back at this. As a tipping point in the rest of corporate Amerika is watching literally right now to see what's gonna happen to Walmart our customers going to flee. What's the real economic impact of what they ve done and why,

has been the reaction, whereas you imagine the and our aid came out with a statement blasting the company within hours of the announcement, the energy tweeted. It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressures of the anti gun elites lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America's fundamental freedoms. You have some customers on twitter with the hashtag boycott Walmart Walmart. What are ya No, I'm gonna think that by telling me and other people then have a licence to carry that, you can bring. The war is going to stop a mass shootings. That's not gonna stop not been asked about now at the other extreme. You have people giving a matter voice saying this is great, are now going to shop a war Martin and to the extent that people look at the price of the stock as an indicator about what's going to happen to the company in the company sales? Well, the sack actually went.

I found myself struck led the biggest employer in the country has responded at least a bed to this call that you put out, but what you have been advocating for end many is a lot bigger than a single company, ending the sales of ammunition or even ending the sales of certain guns. It's this coordinated attempt. To use the financial system to change basically the very nature of the gun industry, and are you seeing any signs that that is happening that larger structural change? You know for the most part, were not there yet credit card companies still for the most part, don't see this as their issue. Some of the bank's some, the retailers are trying to figure out what they can do, but they're all anxious, they're, all nervous nuns why? What Douglas Moon did May or may not be important will sink into gun right supporters. I have to imagine that what you're outlining

sounds like you asking the financial system to do what lawmakers in Washington haven't done and may never do in their minds for good reason, which is that It may inevitably infringe on their rights to buy guns. Look I hear that. I see my twitter feed every single day, but there's a crisis go on in this country and the question is how we use front the crisis, that none of this is about flouting the law. None of this is about. Infringing on secondment rights in any way. This is about putting common sense protections on the sales of guns. Reasonable questions should be asked when suspicious behaviour occurs, but I have asked you should any of them that you ve been advocating for, should it actually happen? Do we really want private corporations, banks, credit cards, big financial firms, retailer

Do we want them being the arbiters of this kind of a decision about what guns are sold? What ammunition is sold? Are you and others asking companies to be something that they really are and perhaps never should be, in the United States, which is basically a stand in for the government, because, as well about with you recently when a bunch of ceos debated their were right. How civic minded they should be? At the end of the day, there companies there for profit business is there not elected officials, are not advocacy groups So why should they be doing any other stuff? Look companies make decisions every single day about what products are gonna put on their shells? Who are they going to do business with who there can provide loans to for all sorts of different reasons, people making these decisions constellation so the idea that companies are supposed to actually just sit on our hands and in that is crazy to me it's

absolutely insanity to think that they are not supposed have any responsibility on this, but if they take on this role, that you're suggesting are you worried that it all in a very real way. Let the government off the hook for playing around Tori? While we traditionally think of the government playing of protecting the people in a perfect world, the government would put in place reasonable and responsible regulations that would prevent this from happening, but by default. Let's just agree that the laws on the boy Things are not working. If they were, we wouldn't be having this conversation. If you take that, as fact, the question is what you gonna do about it. And if Washington is not going to do something about it, the question is: who will

the moral responsibility of business leaders to deal with very human issues, and I think they have some and we thank you. Thank you Michael order. It back. A lot of companies are struggling right now then desk is here to help their remote support. Bundle comes with the basic tools. Your team needs to stay, agile and connected with customers, whether its by email, phone chat, help centre or social media and would send ask it, takes ours not weeks to get up and running their customer support software as easy to use and quickly scales to meet changing needs. You can try it now for six months for free go to send us dot com, slash the daily to get started.

Here's what else you need to know answered as over these past few months have shocked and saddened Hong Kong Caple on Wednesday, the chief executive of Hong Kong carry land said she would withdraw and unpopular extra that has ignited months of massive protests across the city. Our foremost priority now is to end violence, to safeguard the rule of law, and to restore order and safety in society? The bill would have allowed for citizens of Hong Kong to be true for crimes in mainland China. Sparking fears that China might have used the law as a way to prosecute and silence its critics in Hong Kong.

The withdrawal of the bill was a major demand of the protesters put its unclear. Whether lands decision will end the demonstrations, which have since expanded to encompass broader grievances against her government. And all questions to the prime Minister should born. Don't sit, Mr Baker. The former prime ministers deal was unacceptable to this house, but to leave with out to deal is unthinkable for the second year in a row, brutish lawmakers rejected the will of their new power minister, oars Johnson by voting to stop him from leaving the European Union by the end of the month with out a negotiated deal. Prime Minister, this day is a game. Brinkmanship builds on their livelihoods. How and future of my constituents and our country

showdown over bricks has triggered a civil war inside Johnson's conservative party, as members of his own party, turned against him. Calling his plan dangerous for Britain Johnson vowed to press on with his strategy as big as the honourable lady knows very well, this government will take these kind

How do the European Union on October, the thirty Russia? Finally, agriculture, decimated national average, is under one directly is completely shredded and in fact, the area around airports looks like a link on Wednesday. The full devastation of Hurricane Dorian was revealed in the Bahamas, where government officials said it had destroyed thousands of buildings wiped out entire neighbourhoods and killed at least twenty people. Many of them

use villains left of it. Firefly roof damage the hurricane now travelling parallel to the east coast of the United States. As a category to store is now forecast to close in on Charleston South Carolina by later this afternoon, that's it for the daily I'm likeable borrow Seymour. As a surgeon and president of Howard, University, Doktor Wayne, Frederick leaves even are tough times can lead to

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