Teachers Union Owns 6% of Bushmaster

Oh, the irony. Bushmaster is publicly traded stock via its parent company Freedom Group. One of the majority stockholders are the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the pension program for California teacher unions.

From CNN here:

Do you know who owns more than a 6% stake in the maker of .223 Bushmaster rifles, like the one used last Friday to murder 20 first graders and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut? California public schoolteachers.

The company in question is Freedom Group, a privately-held firearms conglomerate formed by private equity and hedge fund group Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus created the platform in April 2006 via the acquisition of Bushmaster, after which it added another 10 makers of firearms, ammunition and accessories (including Remington, Marlin Arms and Barnes Bullets).

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) committed to invest a whopping $500 million into a $7.5 billion Cerberus fund that has helped bankroll Freedom Group. That means that it effectively could own a 6.67% stake in the gun maker.

There are all kinds of hysterics still going on over the Sandy Hook Massacre. Calls to defund gun manufacturers by frothing liberals are ridiculous, and it wouldn’t solve anything. But I do enjoy the poke in the eye liberals feel knowing that teacher pensions are invested in the company.