Berkeley Orders Gun Firm Divestment

Berkeley, which helped start a national movement to keep investments out of South Africa, wants to use the same tactic against gun companies.

The City Council voted Tuesday night to ban municipal money from going to companies that make firearms, although Berkeley doesn’t in fact have any money invested in gun manufacturers.

The most significant part of the ordinance is its instruction to the city to discourage the $132-billion state public employees retirement system, or CalPERS, from investing in firearm manufacturers, said Amy Resner, Mayor Shirley Dean’s spokeswoman.

Berkeley was a leader in the 1980s disinvestment campaign that increased pressure on South Africa’s apartheid regime. Eventually, the University of California and other state and federal institutions joined the movement.

The state Legislature demanded that CalPERS divest $11 billion in apartheid-related investments in 1986, several years after Berkeley ended such investments.

CalPERS officials said they do not know whether the fund now invests in gun companies.