What makes CALIFORNIA so much better than all of Pennslyvania?

Newtown School Shooting (Dec 2012): Why do California Schoolteachers invest their pension money in the company that makes Bushmaster Rifles? California Schoolteachers own 6% of the company, with a $500MM investment.

• From "Fortune" Magazine: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/17/the-money-behind-the-massacre/ FORTUNE -- Do you know who owns more than a 6% stake in the maker of  .223 Bushmaster rifles, like the one used last Friday to murder 20 first  graders and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut? California public  schoolteachers.

• Answer:

  What the article is insinuating is a bit sensationalist. California schoolteachers have money invested in a Cerberus Capital Management fund, not Freedom Group (the arms-centric Cerberus subsidiary that the question asks about). Yes, the fund may have been used to "bankroll" the establishment of Freedom Group, but Cerberus does business in a wide variety of sectors and usually puts up a strong return for it's investors. Many private universities and sovereign wealth funds have money in Cerberus, so it shouldn't come as a complete surprise that California schoolteachers have money in Cerberus. The article insinuates that there's some malfeasance going on, but it's just a case of some entity making a relatively rational investment. Cerberus doesn't focus the brunt of it's money in the arms industry and after Sandy Hook they're taking steps to divest from Freedom Group, so there's no reason to be up in arms (pun intended) about this issue.