Dick’s Sporting Goods Stops Selling Assault-Style Weapons

Dick’s Sporting Goods announced Wednesday that it was immediately ending sales of all assault-style rifles in its stores. According to The New York Times, the retailer said that it would no longer sell high-capacity magazines and that it would not sell any gun to anyone under 21 years of age, regardless of local laws. Starting this morning, all AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles would be removed from its stores and websites. The announcement, made two weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. that killed 17 students and staff members, is one of the strongest stances taken by a retailer to date. Dick’s informed its employees of the new policy in an internal note Wednesday morning.

Total Retail’s Take: Many companies, such as Hertz, MetLife and others, have made policy changes and cut ties with The National Rifle Association after social media and consumer scrutiny following this latest school shooting. It’s unclear what kind of economic impact this will have on Dick's Sporting Goods, but what it has done is put the company squarely in the middle of the fierce national debate on gun control. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ CEO, Edward Stack, released the following statement about the new company policy:

“The whole hunting business is an important part of our business, and we know there's going to be backlash on this,” said Stack. “But we’re willing to accept that.” He added, “If the kids in Parkland are being brave enough to stand up and do this, we can be brave enough to stand up with them.”