Levi Strauss & Co. Chief Executive Officer Chip Bergh told CNN on Friday that he and the 180-year old company commonly associated with the Old West are backing new Democrat-led gun control pushes because “gun violence is ripping this country apart.”
“I’ve been a CEO now for about 10 years. I can tell you that over that 10-year period of time, the role has changed dramatically,” Bergh said, in explaining what responsibilities men and women in his position allegedly have in driving societal and cultural issues.
“You know, the business roundtable, talk about stakeholder management and ensuring that we’re driving value for all stakeholders. I have a large employee base globally. I’ve got communities where we work and serve the communities. So we’ve got a broad range of stakeholders,” he explained.
“I really do believe, especially at Levi’s, that I have a platform. We’re committed to making change,” he went on.
(Video: CNN)
“This company has been around for 180 years. A big part of the reason I believe we’ve been around for 180 years is we’ve not been afraid to take a position on issues that are really, really important and not been afraid to stick our neck out on these tough issues,” he added.
As such, Bergh said he is joining hundreds of other corporations in calling for new gun control measures because, he contends, that is the country’s most pressing problem.
“When it comes to gun control, gun violence is ripping this country apart. It’s almost every single day you’re hearing about another incident. So this is important to us as a country,” he said.
“I serve the U.S. Army. We’re not trying to repeal the Second Amendment. We’re just calling for legislation that will make our world a safer place,” he added.
That said, critics of President Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday, where he laid out a series of new gun control actions and initiatives, honed in on comments he made alleging that no constitutional amendment, including the right to bear arms, is “absolute.”
“Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment,” Biden said. “These are phony arguments suggesting that these are Second Amendment rights at stake from what we’re talking about.
“But no amendment to the Constitution is absolute … From the very beginning, you couldn’t own any weapon you wanted to own. From the very beginning the Second Amendment existed, certain people weren’t allowed to have weapons. So the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution,” he added.
In fact, advanced weapons of the day, throughout earlier American history, were privately owned, including repeating rifles, Gatlin guns, and artillery.
“The idea that the government has the right to forbid you to own a specific type of weaponry is new, it is dangerous, and it is a trend that is foreign to the thinking of the Founders and traditions of the nation,” Streiff wrote at Red State in June 2016.
In terms of violence, the kind of firearms Democrats are targeting — so-called “assault weapons” — are barely used in gun crimes, according to the most recent FBI statistics, which follow a historical trend. The vast majority of gun crimes are committed with handguns.
As to gun violence overall, most of it comes from major American cities, nearly all of which are run by Democrats.
Gun crimes have risen significantly over the past year as left-wing criminal justice reforms including defunding police, eliminating bail, and early release of criminals have taken hold.
Citing those statistics, Fox News host Tucker Carlson blasted Biden’s new gun control push, accusing him and fellow Democrats of using phony violence arguments to take firearms away from law-abiding Americans, most of whom probably did not vote for the president.
“Anyone who tries to restrict your legally owned firearms is not trying to make America safer. The point is to disarm you and strip you of your autonomy, your power, your right to self-defense,” Carlson said.
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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