Leftists need issues to protest and one that keeps them revved up is firearms. Gun control laws are, of course, utterly ineffective but that doesn’t keep the lefties from clamoring for them. Even more pointless is demanding that colleges and universities divest themselves of any shares they own in companies that manufacture guns. If a university sells some shares in, say, Smith & Wesson to another person or institution, that does no harm at all to the company. Shares of stock change hands every day and that has no impact at all on the firm’s ability to produce and sell.

Nevertheless, a divestment movement has arisen with regard to firearms, just as with fossil fuels, tobacco and other hobgoblins of the left. One target was Boston University, but as we read in this Inside Higher Ed story, the BU board has the good sense to tell the divestment crowd to forget it.

Instead of indulging in the moral preening of divestment demands, the activists should spend a bit of time learning how stock markets work and then, more importantly, that many people need guns to protect themselves against violence.