By Sarah Nassauer, Austen Hufford and Zusha Elinson
Walmart Inc. and Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. said they would no
longer sell guns to anyone under 21 years old, as two of the
country's biggest gun sellers tightened their policies in the wake
of a high-school shooting that left 17 people dead in Parkland,
Fla.
Both retailers said Wednesday they were making the change in
light of the tragedy. "We take seriously our obligation to be a
responsible seller of firearms," Walmart said in a statement.
Walmart, which sells rifles, shotguns and ammunition in
thousands of its stores, had stopped sales of assault-style rifles
in 2015. Earlier on Wednesday, Dick's said it would raise its
minimum age for gun buyers and stop selling assault-style rifles at
its Field & Stream chain, which has 35 locations.
Calls to ban high-capacity firearms and raise the minimum age to
buy a firearm have been partly rekindled by students and survivors
of the mass shooting in Florida. The policy changes come at a time
that U.S. firearm sales have cooled.
Under current law, licensed gun dealers can sell a handgun to
someone 21 years old and sell a rifle to someone who is 18.
President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Rick Scott have expressed
support for raising the age limit for rifle sales, but the National
Rifle Association has rejected any such move as a violation of the
Second Amendment.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump threw his weight behind a Senate
proposal to expand background checks on gun sales, as part of a
call for a sweeping overhaul of U.S. gun policy in the wake of the
Florida school shooting.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry
association, said it was disappointed by Dick's decision and called
on Congress to immediately pass legislation designed to improve
background checks for gun purchases. The so-called FIX NICS bill
has run into hurdles in Congress. The NRA, the most prominent
gun-rights group, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Dick's disclosed Wednesday that it had sold a shotgun to accused
Parkland, Fla., killer Nikolas Cruz in November, though it wasn't
used in the shooting. The gunman used an AR-15 model rifle, which
is a semiautomatic rifle that allows the user to fire rapidly and
use high-capacity magazines. Earlier in February, police in Vermont
also arrested and charged an 18-year-old who had allegedly bought a
shotgun at Dick's and planned to attack a school.
Pittsburgh-based Dick's, which operates about 800 stores, had
previously ended sales of assault-style rifles at its flagship
Dick's stores following the 2012 deadly elementary-school shooting
in Newtown, Conn.
The retailer said Wednesday it would stop selling high-capacity
magazines at all its stores and advocate for more stringent gun
laws. The company will continue to sell rifles and shotguns. The
changes took effect Wednesday.
"We were so disturbed and saddened by what happened, we felt we
really needed to do something," Dick's CEO Edward Stack told "Good
Morning America" on Wednesday.
There is no agreed-upon definition of an assault-style weapon in
the U.S. Those arguing for stricter gun laws often point to
military-style semiautomatic rifles that can be fitted with
high-capacity magazines like the AR-15 model, which has been used
in several mass shootings. The gun industry describes the AR-15
model and other semiautomatic rifles, such as AK-style weapons, as
being modern sporting rifles.
Semiautomatic guns fire bullets as fast as the shooter can pull
the trigger. More traditional hunting rifles generally don't use
high-capacity magazines and some aren't semiautomatic. The
bolt-action rifle, for instance, requires the shooter to manually
move the bolt handle between each shot.
Retailers that still sell AR-15 models and similar weapons
include Bass Pro Shops, which also owns the Cabela's outdoors
chain, and Academy Sports and Outdoors.
"We are strongly committed to ensuring the legal, safe and
responsible transfer of firearms," said a spokeswoman for Katy,
Texas-based Academy, which has stores in 16 states. The retailer
supports the background check bill now proposed in Congress, she
said Wednesday.
Bass Pro Shops didn't respond to requests for comment.
Most firearms aren't sold at chain retailers, according to a
spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Guns are
often purchased at thousands of unaffiliated gun shops or at gun
shows. The weapon allegedly used by Mr. Cruz was an AR-15-style
weapon manufactured by Smith & Wesson and purchased at a small
Florida gun dealer.
Around 12% of sales of this type of gun take place at chain
retailers like Dick's and Cabela's, according to data compiled by
Southwick Associates for the foundation. Mainstream retailers
account for nearly 23% of long gun and handgun sales.
After Walmart stopped selling AR-15s and similar semiautomatic
rifles in 2015, it started carrying more shotguns and other hunting
weapons. It said at the time the change was due to shifting demand.
Walmart had faced pressure from a shareholder, New York's Trinity
Wall Street Church.
Walmart doesn't sell assault-style guns, accessories or adapters
and doesn't sell handguns except in Alaska, a spokesman said. On
Wednesday, the company also said it was removing items from its
website resembling assault-style rifles, including nonlethal
airsoft guns and toys.
Firearm sales, which surged in recent years amid concerns about
possible restrictions being enacted under Democratic
administrations, have been slumping since the election of Mr.
Trump. One of the biggest U.S. firearms manufacturers, Remington
Outdoor Co., recently filed for bankruptcy protection after facing
"difficult industry conditions" and a lawsuit filed by families of
victims in the Newtown shooting.
The company, whose many gun brands include Bushmaster as well as
its namesake Remington, reported that sales for the first nine
months of 2017 fell 27% from the same period in 2016.
One of its main U.S. rivals, American Outdoor Brands Corp.,
formerly called Smith & Wesson, reported sales of $148 million
for the quarter ended Oct. 31, down 36% from a year earlier.
Neither Remington nor American Outdoor immediately responded to
requests for comment.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com, Austen
Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com and Zusha Elinson at
zusha.elinson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 28, 2018 20:09 ET (01:09 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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