A coalition of advocates, representing millions of Americans, including two fathers who lost children in the Parkland shooting, have partnered with Guns Down America to publish the nation’s first-ever Gun Safety Scorecard for national retailers.
The Gun Safety Scorecard measures retailers’ efforts to keep the public safe from gun violence in three specific categories by assigning a letter gun safety grade to 29 large American businesses. The report card will offer consumers the opportunity to shop their values this holiday season.
Businesses with a B or higher are awarded the Gun Safety Certified mark. The mark, developed by Manuel Oliver (father of Joaquin Oliver, one of the 17 victims from the Parkland shooting) of Change The Ref and Stop Handgun Violence, is a symbol for brands and businesses to use to show their support for gun safety and push other corporations to do better.
“Using the Gun Certified Mark, my son Joaquin is challenging America’s most powerful businesses to stand up and do their part to keep us safe from gun violence,” said Manuel Oliver, co-founder of Change the Ref. “I know that businesses that prioritize the lives of their customers and employees will be rewarded by American consumers for helping build safer communities for us all.”
The report also finds that 25 of the 29 retailers studied experienced an incident of gun violence in their stores and were thus directly impacted by the nation’s gun crisis.
“As a former retail franchise owner myself, I understand that the business community has an obligation to become involved in gun safety and to do more to protect customers and employees from the daily threat of gun violence,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in Parkland. “This means addressing how you as a company will address the risk of gun violence to both your employees and customers through policy. It also means asking elected leaders to do more. Failure to do so will only lead to the cost of doing business going up in both financial and, as I know all too well, personal ways.”
The new #BusinessMustAct scorecard ranks retailers on actions to reduce gun violence in their stores, including banning the open carry of firearms; donations to the top recipients of NRA dollars in Congress; and publicly calling for gun reform. With the release of the scorecard, the coalition of 22 organizations will launch a campaign to thank the companies that are prioritizing safety and urge others to lean into the issue and improve their rankings.
The retailers, scores on a 100 point scale, and letter grades:
- KROGER 95 A
- OLD NAVY 90 A
- WALMART 90 A
- AMAZON 80 B
- COSTCO 80 B
- NORDSTROM 80 B
- STARBUCKS 80 B
- TARGET 80 B
- TRADER JOE’S 80 B
- WHOLE FOODS 80 B
- WAFFLE HOUSE 70 C
- TJ MAXX 65 D
- BUFFALO WILD WINGS 60 D
- CHICK-FIL-A 45 F
- DUNKIN 45 F
- MCDONALDS 35 F
- 7/11 20 F
- ACE HARDWARE 20 F
- APPLEBEE’S 20 F
- BARNES & NOBLE 20 F
- DOLLAR TREE 20 F
- OLD CHICAGO PIZZA 20 F
- RAINBOW SHOPS 20 F
- HOT TOPIC 20 F
- JOS. A. BANK 20 F
- KOHL’S 20 F
- NIKE 10 F
- LOWE’S 0 F
- HOME DEPOT 0 F
The retailers chosen were selected from the YouGov Specialty Retail, Department Stores, and Grocery Store Popularity Lists; the top four retailers from the FourSquare Loyalty Rankings for Casual Dining, Fashion, and Quick Service Restaurants; and the top four retailers with the highest gross sales for 2018 as ranked by the National Retail Federation. This also includes the three largest clothing retailers per Business Insider’s analysis of the Forbes Global #200 list: TJ Maxx Companies, Nike, and Nordstrom.
National partners include Color of Change, the American Federation of Teachers, March for Our Lives and MoveOn.Org.
