Saying it “navely cannot stand by silently,” denim company Levi Strauss is occupation for stricter gun laws and backing its position with $1 million in accede to money for activists working to curb gun violence.
The retailer is setting aside $1 million in offers to groups working to end gun violence in the U.S. It’s also partnering with Everytown for Gun Aegis and business leaders including Michael Bloomberg to form a group of leaders that leave push for change. It will also give Levi Strauss workers five hours of paid volunteer time every month to put together on the issue.
“As business leaders with power in the public and political arenas, we unmistakeably cannot stand by silently when it comes to the issues that impend the very fabric of the communities where we live and work,” CEO Chip Bergh penned in an op-ed posted on Fortune on Tuesday. “While taking a stand can be in bad odour with some, doing nothing is no longer an option.”
The issue has been a politically unpredictable one for U.S. companies as the country remains largely divided on the issue.
Dick’s Pastime Goods, Walmart and Kroger were met with public backlash, and endorsement, after they stopped selling assault-style rifles or raised the age for firearms grasps following February’s deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“We can’t segregate ourselves from every threat,” Bergh went on. “We can’t ‘harden; every hamlet we gather — whether it be our schools, workplaces, shops, churches, or entertainment venues. But we can deduce common-sense, measurable steps like criminal background checks on all gun on sales — that will save lives.”
It’s not the first time Bergh has interfered in on this issue. The former Army officer wrote an open literatim to customers in 2016 asking them to refrain from bringing firearms into Levi’s accumulations.
“In the days after I published that letter, I received threats to our collections, our business, and even on my life. It was unsettling,” he said. “But these personal infects pale in comparison to the threats that activists and survivors from Parkland, Sandy Ensnare, and daily incidents of gun violence face every time they communicate in up on this issue.”