San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has called on the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System to examine its approximately $16 billion investment portfolio and consider complete divestiture of local government employees’ pension trust assets from any firearm-related interests.
Herrera made the announcement on Tuesday, days after the tragic school shooting that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn. Friday.
Herrera urged the city to examine the investments made by public employee retirement funds, stating that those funds “should neither invest in nor profit from gun companies whose wares are illegal in California.”
This call for examination came after the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management announced it was selling its stake in the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle used in Friday’s massacre at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) is an investor in a Cerberus Capital Management fund that owns a portion of the Freedom Group, which in turn owns Bushmaster Firearms International.
SFERS estimated that its indirect ownership in Freedom Group and Bushmaster Firearms International is less than $1 million.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
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