“Divestment is just avoidance and is less likely to result in a system change than engagement,” Streur said. Even if investors sell their gun stocks, the weapons will still exist, he says. That’s why after the Florida shootings in particular, he began thinking that investors like Calvert should take a broader approach to guns, and engage big companies in the battle for better gun regulation.

Indexing Factor
The question of investor influence is complicated by the massive growth of strategies tracking indexes. Passive players can’t easily walk away because they’re obligated to be exposed to stocks in an index.

BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest money manager and an indexing power, owns 11 percent of American Outdoor Brands Corp., parent of the maker of the AR-15 rifle, which was used in the Florida shooting. Vanguard Group and State Street Corp. also rank among the top 10 holders.

Following the massacre, BlackRock said it would explore ideas for new funds excluding gun makers and retailers. It also said it opened discussions with firearms companies on steps they could take to support responsible use of their products. State Street also said it would engage with weapons makers.

“You can’t tell someone who makes firearms to stop making them,” said Angeles’s Rosen, “but you can encourage them to use smarter technology.”

American Outdoor Brands, formerly Smith & Wesson, cautioned BlackRock last week that one of its greatest investment risks was to take political positions unpopular with its pro-Second Amendment customers.

‘Lip Service’
Not everyone is convinced dialogue will produce much. Indexers are paying “lip service” to the gun issue to appease critics, said Daniel Wiener, editor of the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors newsletter.

“Working behind the scenes to change things is likely to go nowhere,” Wiener said.

Engagement is “a long-standing practice” at Vanguard aimed at maximizing value for investors, said John Woerth, a spokesman for the $5.1 trillion fund company. “We regularly encourage boards of directors to focus on societal risks and the disclosures of these risks on a range of issues.”

State Street declined to comment.