Nevada says it will end investment in companies that make assault-style weapons

Nevada state Treasurer Zach Conine announced Thursday the state will end its investments in businesses that sell or manufacture assault-style weapons in the wake of a string of deadly mass shootings nationwide.
“Today, I directed our team to divest the State of Nevada from any investment in a business that profits from the sale or manufacture of assault-style weapons,” Conine wrote. “No one policy or law will fix this crisis, but we all must do something.”
Conine said that his decision was particularly influenced by the shooting that took place in Uvalde, Texas, last week resulting in the deaths of 19 fourth graders and their two teachers.
An 18-year-old who obtained multiple weapons on and just after his birthday killed the children and their teachers after shooting his grandmother and stealing her car, authorities said.
“Companies that profit on the manufacture and sale of assault-style weapons present a market risk I’m not willing to take,” Conine said.
He added, “The moral risk for investing in these companies is too high and is more than we are willing to bear.”
Conine said he was the father of young children and that his decision to divest was dedicated to keeping children safe and preventing the grief experienced by parents and grandparents who lost children in Uvalde and in other instances of gun violence.
The shooting in Uvalde was preceded by a racially-motivated attack on a supermarket in a heavily Black area of Buffalo, N.Y., earlier last month that killed 10 people, intensifying debates surrounding gun control and gun violence prevention across the country.
Nevada faced its own tragedy in 2017 when Stephen Paddock opened fire on a Las Vegas music festival, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds.
Paddock legally owned dozens of assault-style firearms.