By Sarah Nassauer
Walmart Inc. is stopping ammunition sales for assault-style
rifles and handguns, further restricting the retailer's gun-related
sales and policies after two deadly shootings at its stores last
month.
Recent mass shootings have raised pressure on retailers and
policy makers to take steps to reduce gun violence. Walmart's
ammunition changes exceed the measures taken by other big retailers
that have tightened their gun policies in recent years after other
deadly shootings.
Lawmakers are set to return to Capitol Hill after a summer
recess as expectations for possible gun legislation run high. White
House officials have met with congressional aides to discuss
potential measures to tighten background checks and boost
mental-health services. The man who went on a deadly shooting spree
across West Texas on Saturday was barred under federal law from
owning or buying firearms because a court had previously determined
he was mentally unfit, according to law-enforcement officials.
However, doubts remain that Congress will get anything done on
the issue with the 2020 election looming and because President
Trump hasn't endorsed a specific legislative package. Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said Tuesday that he
would follow the Republican president's lead on gun policy rather
than having the Senate chart its own course.
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, said Tuesday that it
would no longer sell short-barrel rifle ammunition -- used in
assault-style guns and some hunting rifles -- as well as all
handgun ammunition in its stores.
The policy change takes effect immediately, with stores ceasing
to offer those products after selling through existing inventories.
The retailer stopped selling handguns in all U.S. stores except
those in Alaska over two decades ago but will now cease such sales
in that state as well.
"As a company, we experienced two horrific events in one week,
and we will never be the same," Walmart Chief Executive Doug
McMillon wrote in an email to employees Tuesday. "Our remaining
assortment will be even more focused on the needs of hunting and
sport-shooting enthusiasts."
Mr. McMillon said the company has no plans to discontinue all
gun sales, adding that it has a long history of serving the hunting
community and that founder Sam Walton was an avid hunter. The
retailer's firearm selection is focused on hunting rifles and
shotguns.
"I'm a gun owner myself," Mr. McMillon said in a statement. "In
a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to
take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these
will happen again," he said. "The status quo is unacceptable."
Although it is one of the biggest U.S. sellers of firearms and
ammunition, Walmart has gradually tightened its policies as the
nation confronts a rash of mass shootings. In 2015, it stopped
selling assault-style rifles. Last year the company raised the
minimum age to purchase guns or ammunition to 21 after a deadly
shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Walmart said last month
that it sells around 2% of firearms and 20% of the ammunition sold
by U.S. retailers, which the company believes places it outside the
top three sellers of guns in the country.
After taking some types of ammunition off shelves, Walmart said
Tuesday that it expected its market share of ammunition sales would
fall to around 6% to 9% over time.
Other retailers have tightened their gun policies in recent
years. Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. raised the gun- and
ammunition-buying age to 21 and stopped selling assault-style
rifles last year. Dick's continues to sell some ammunition that can
be used in assault-style firearms, according to the company's
website. The company's hunting business is under strategic review,
a Dick's spokesman said.
Firearm sales have dipped since Mr. Trump became president, as
buyers tend to stock up when they anticipate tighter gun
regulations. Most firearms aren't sold at big retail chains,
according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Guns are
often purchased at thousands of unaffiliated gun shops or at gun
shows.
Ammunition is a lower-margin product than most firearms, and
ammunition for AR-15-style rifles of the sort Walmart has decided
to stop selling is often lower-margin than hunting ammunition, said
Jim Pledger, a firearms industry consultant.
Shares in Vista Outdoor Inc., the nation's largest ammunition
maker, closed 6.1% lower at $5.25 but were little changed following
Walmart's announcement. Olin Corp., which produces
Winchester-branded ammunition, fell 2% while handgun specialist
American Outdoor Brands Corp., which makes Smith & Wesson
firearms, shed 4.5%.
Some national sporting retailers, including Cabela's, Bass Pro
Shops and Academy Sports & Outdoors continue to sell AR-15 and
similar-style firearms and ammunition.
Last month, a gunman killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas, Walmart
with an AK-style semiautomatic rifle, in a shooting officials have
said they are investigating as an act of domestic terrorism
targeting Hispanics. Earlier that week, a Walmart employee shot and
killed two other workers in a Mississippi Walmart store.
Walmart will no longer allow shoppers to carry firearms openly
inside any of its stores. Shoppers with concealed-carry permits can
continue to carry guns, the company said.
Since the El Paso shooting, a number of incidents of people
carrying weapons that frightened workers and customers in Walmart
stores have led to store evacuations and calls to law enforcement,
Mr. McMillon said in his email. "We are respectfully requesting
that customers no longer openly carry firearms," he said.
Separately, Kroger Co. said Tuesday that it is asking shoppers
not to openly carry firearms in its stores. The Cincinnati-based
grocer stopped selling firearms last year at its Fred Meyer
stores.
Some activists and employees have called for Walmart to end gun
sales or stop giving money to politicians that support the National
Rifle Association, a leading gun-rights group. Walmart didn't
specify any changes to its political giving.
The NRA called Walmart's decision "shameful" in a statement
Tuesday. "Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other
retailers who are more supportive of America's fundamental
freedoms," the group said.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 03, 2019 22:33 ET (02:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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