State Treasurer Zach Conine, a friend and companion Nevada Business Magazine The columnist announced that Nevada will divest $89 million in securities of companies that profit from the manufacture or sale of “assault-type” weapons. He did not provide a list of those companies, but estimated the total value of Nevada’s gun-related holdings at $89 million on June 2, before a sharp drop in stock markets. His office manages $49.3 billion in investments across five different funds. It will immediately cease new investments in these companies. Full policy implementation must be presented to the State Board of Finance and the Nevada College Savings Plans Board of Trustees for approval.

Conine said his office will ensure the policy is implemented “in the most fiscally prudent manner possible,” without selling anything at a loss and without adversely affecting state investment portfolios. He also said the state would order external financial managers and outside investment partners to take similar action and limit business with manufacturers and sellers of “assault-type” weapons.

To be frank, this initiative, inspired by the recent mass shootings, is an empty and ineffectual gesture and an example of a politician posing and signaling his virtue as he faces re-election in November. This will have no effect on the companies involved because the amounts Nevada holds in each are minimal for each company. With the principal less than two-tenths of a percent of the government’s portfolio, gains or losses will also make no material difference to taxpayers or other affected parties – although, of course, all amounts must be treated with caution.

However, if the purpose of the measure is to effect a change in the illegal possession and use of firearms, let us look at the facts. A recent article by Professor Daniel Hamlin of the University of Oklahoma in the Journal of Criminal Justice analyzed the relationship between rates of gun ownership in the state and 1,275 firearm incidents in schools and 2,026 victims injured or killed from 1980 to 2019. The analysis found that gun ownership rates had declined. during this period, but incidents numbered 20 to 40 per year before rising to 102 in 2018 and 110 in 2019.

According to the abstract, “findings were mixed on the relationship between rates of gun ownership in the state and school gun incidents and injured/killed victims. Additionally, child access prevention, minimum age requirements for gun purchases, and mandatory gun safety training laws have shown weak and inconsistent relationships with firearm incidents in schools. Future research may be needed to explore holistic approaches to addressing this issue.

Data comparing annual death rates from mass public shootings in the United States, Canada and European countries from 2009 to 2015, puts our death rate per million people at just one-tenth with 0.089 deaths. Norway led with 1.888, France third with 0.347 and Switzerland seventh with 0.142. Deaths in France were mainly due to machine guns, which were already banned there.

Recently, a fact-checker from the Austin American Statesman concluded, “A Facebook post claimed that more people were killed by hands, fists and feet in 2020 than by guns. FBI data confirms this statistic. But the data source is limited, and this statistic alone does not tell the whole story of the role firearms of all kinds play in homicides.

The overwhelming majority of gun deaths are suicides (more than half) and murders committed by young men, especially in Democrat-controlled cities, with handguns, not “assault weapons.” “. Many experts have noted factors, such as mental illness and social alienation, as central to these killings, especially in mass shootings. Last month, the Wall Street Journal said: “This cultural erosion will take years to repair, but a good start would be to admit that it plays a role in increasing acts of senseless violence.

The federal government banned “assault weapons” from 1995 to 2004, but problems with the definition and enforcement of the law led to a skyrocketing increase in their manufacture and sale during that decade, and since then. . Conine’s initiative is for emotional gun haters who want an end to all gun ownership, not sober people who want to fix the problem.