On December 18, 2012, Dick's Sporting Goods suspended the sale of modern sporting rifles across the country. The decision was reported by nbcbayarea.com on 18 December, just 4 days after the mass murder at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut.
"We are extremely saddened by the unspeakable tragedy that occurred last week in Newtown, CT, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and to the entire community.Dick's responded quickly to the emotional appeals of the dominant national media. Note that Dick's said they suspended the sale. They did not say they would never sell modern sporting rifles again. In fact, they resumed the sale of AR-15 type rifles and other modern sporting rifles by August of 2013. From nbcnews.com, August 20, 2013:
"Out of respect for the victims and their families, during this time of national mourning we have removed all guns from sale and from display in our store nearest to Newtown and suspended the sale of modern sporting rifles in all of our stores chainwide.
"We continue to extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this terrible tragedy. "
Gun control activists praised the chain’s decision at the time. But this weekend Dick’s opened the first store in a new chain called Field & Stream that specializes in hunting and fishing products, and a call to the store in Cranberry Township, Penn., reveals that Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifles are for sale.Now Dick's is once again bending to the enormous pressure of the elite media and other parts of the Progressive political machine. Dick's CEO has fully caved. Dick's has gone all out for the politically correct response. It is the easy thing to do when faced with enormous pressure. It takes courage to oppose the group-think sponsored by nearly all the national media. Dick's now supports enacting extreme controls, far beyond any laws now in place.
“We have a full stock,” said a clerk who identified himself as Gary. He said the guns retailed for $800, and that the gun counter was “really busy.”
Dick's now supports:
Banning assault-style firearms - by many definitions, this would be most semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and pistols in the country, and include many pump action shotguns.
Forbidding the sale of guns to adult citizens under the age of 21 - It is hard to see how this would pass constitutional muster.
Banning high capacity magazines and bump stocks - Bump stocks have only been used once in a mass murder. "High capacity" usually refers to standard capacity magazines for most rifles and pistols.
Banning private sales by requiring government permission before any gun is sold - This requires a national registration of guns to be useful. None of the recent mass murders would have been affected by this proposed legislation.
There is no evidence that any of these measures would prevent future mass school murders. Even in Australia, the extreme gun laws, similar to these proposals in many ways, did not reduce mass shooting in schools.
Dick's once again takes the easy, "politically correct" action. It is far easier than opposing the emotionally driven agenda.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
No way to run a business, if they have he right to buy then sell them what they want not what you prefer. Not likely one store is going to hurt the market. I had a customer that wanted a revolver black power rifle and I made him happy.
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