Given the current concern over owning gun-manufacturer stocks in the aftermath of the latest high-school shooting in Parkland, Florida, we did a bit of digging and found 46 ETFs that include one or more of the three publicly traded gun manufacturers: American Outdoor Brands (AOBC), Vista Outdoor (VSTO), and Sturm Ruger (RGR)-the latter of which makes the AR-15 rifles that have been in the news (paywall).
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a fantastic tool because they give investors exposure to many securities at once.
But one downside is that you may not know what individual stocks you own within the funds unless you do some research.
The most likely way that you might own a gun-manufacturer stock is through a fund that tracks a broad market index, like the Russell 2000 or S&P 600 indexes.
The full list of ETFs, as sourced from ETF Database and ETF Channel, is below:
First Trust Long/Short Equity Fund | FTLS |
First Trust Multi Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund | FAD |
First Trust Multi Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund | FAB |
First Trust Small Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund | FYX |
First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund | FYC |
First Trust Small Cap US Equity Select ETF | RNSC |
First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund | FYT |
First Trust Total US Market Alpha DEX ETF | TUSA |
Guggenheim S&P 600 SmallCap Pure Value | RZV |
Guggenheim S&P Small Cap 600 Equal Weight ETF | EWSC |
iShares core S&P SmallCap ETF | IJR |
iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF | ITOT |
iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA SmallCap ETF | SMMV |
iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor USA SmallCap ETF | SMLF |
iShares Russell 2000 ETF | IWM |
iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF | IWO |
iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF | IWN |
iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Growth ETF | IJT |
iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Value ETF | IJS |
iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF | ITA |
PowerShares Buyback Achievers | PKW |
PowerShares FTSE RAFI 1500 Sm-Md | PRFZ |
PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000 | PRF |
PowerShares PureBeta MSCI USA Small Cap Portfolio | PBSM |
PowerShares Russell 2000 Equal Weight Portfolio ETF | EQWS |
PowerShares S&P SmallCap Quality Portfolio | XSHQ |
SPDR Portfolio Small Cap ETF | SPSM |
SPDR S&P 1000 ETF | SPMD |
SPDR S&P 1500 Value Tilt ETF | VLU |
SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF | SLY |
SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Growth ETF | SLYG |
SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | SLYV |
VanEck Vectors Global Spin-Off ETF | SPUN |
Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF | VCR |
Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF | VTWO |
Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth ETF | VTWG |
Vanguard Russell 2000 Value ETF | VTWV |
Vanguard S&P SmallCap 600 Growth ETF | VIOG |
Vanguard S&P SmallCap 600 Value ETF | VIOV |
Vanguard Small Cap ETF | VB |
Vanguard Small Cap Growth ETF | VBK |
Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF | VBR |
WisdoemTree US SmallCap Dividend Growth Fund | DGRS |
WisdomTree US SmallCap Dividend ETF | DES |
WisdomTree US SmallCap Earnings ETF | EES |
WisdomTree US Total Earnings ETF | EXT |
What should you do if you want to avoid gun-manufacturer stocks? One option is to consider a fund that tracks a “socially responsible” index like the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, which tracks 400 US securities that meet certain environmental, social, and governance criteria. It has either beaten or kept track with both the Russell 2000 and S&P 600 indexes over the past one- and five-year periods.