Final Word from Wednesday, October 25, 2023
When Vista Outdoor of the United States announced its plan in May of last year to spin off its Sporting Products unit, which produces ammunition, one of the many risks it cited was the use by others of social media to disseminate negative commentary about it or to conduct boycotts. Vista Outdoor and other U.S. gun and ammunition manufacturers, including Colt, had already been subject to numerous boycotts for various reasons related to the specific gun culture in the U.S. The AR-15 rifle, produced for years by Colt, has been called the "weapon of choice of mass shooters." By acquiring Sporting Products and Colt, the Czech companies Czechoslovak Group and Česká zbrojovka have taken on immeasurable legacy reputational risk, as well as future reputational risk associated with new school shootings and mass killings. The CR doesn't have a gun culture of the kind in the U.S., but it certainly has a gun-production culture, and at some point Americans are likely going to start noticing this. [ Czech Republic of America CZ CSG Second Amendment ESG ]
Glossary of difficult words
to spin off - to sell off a subsidiary of a parent company to create a new company;
to disseminate - to spread (something, esp. information) widely;
immeasurable - too large, extensive or extreme to measure;
legacy - handed down by a predecessor.