Publicly-traded corporations have a legal and fiduciary duty to the federal government and their shareholders to disclose all risks that could effect the financial performance of the company, otherwise known as risk factors, and an increasing number of companies are officially declaring that mass shootings are a risk factor.
The number of people killed and wounded in mass shootings has dramatically increased since Trump ran for and took office and corporations evidently consider shootings common enough to report them as a risk factor their shareholders.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Companies such as Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc., Del Taco Restaurants Inc. and Stratus Properties Inc., a Texas-based real-estate firm, added references to active-shooter scenarios in the “risk factor” section of their latest annual reports, according to an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The disclosures come as fatalities in mass public shootings have surged in recent years. Between 2016 and 2018, active shooter incidents left 306 people dead and 850 wounded, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That’s up from the previous three years, when active shooters killed 136 and wounded 181. The FBI defines an active shooter incident as one or more shooters attempting to kill people in a crowded area. [...]
“Terrorist attacks or an active shooter could have a material adverse effect on consumer spending,” Del Taco, a Lake Forest, Calif.-based restaurant chain, said in its latest annual report, which was filed with the SEC in March. The company didn’t refer to active shooters in its previous annual report.
The extremely high financial cost of mass shootings -- from the treatment of victims to the loss of business -- could be the only thing that may yet still persuade local governments to take action if not the federal government.
That's American exceptionalism for you.