RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, gun violence has categorically assailed the very public health, safety, morals, and welfare that we the Members of the Chicago City Council are charged with protecting; and
WHEREAS, time and again, we have joined in a collective state of national mourning after yet another group of schoolchildren is gunned down; and
WHEREAS, most recently, on February 14, 2018, a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida claimed seventeen young lives and seventeen more were wounded; and
WHEREAS, the student survivors of this tragedy are charging forth in efforts to effect gun policy changes so that their story is the last one like it; and
WHEREAS, student and youth leaders have coalesced to form a national "March For Our Lives" movement that, to date has seen over 800 anti-gun violence rallies in major cities across the world, including the nation's capital and Chicago; and
WHEREAS, in a signal that the gun policy reform movement is gaining traction, some businesses are shifting towards more gun safety minded business practices; and
WHEREAS, Bank of America, the nation's second largest bank, announced in April 2018, that it will stop lending money to gun manufacturers that make military-inspired firearms for civilian use, such as the AR-15-style rifles that have been used in multiple mass shootings; and
WHEREAS, Anne M. Finucane, vice chairwoman at Bank of America told Bloomberg Television, "It's our intention not to finance these military-style firearms for civilian use, we want to contribute in any way we can to reduce these mass shootings;" and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago recognizes, in gratitude, Bank of America's leadership and courage to act where public policy has stalled; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO:
That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this eighteenth day of April, 2018, do hereby praise Bank of America's leadership in the fight against senseless gun violence in our nation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Board of Directors of Bank of America.
Edward M. Burke Alderman, 14th Ward