“When we saw what happened in Parkland, we were so disturbed and upset. We love these kids and their rallying cry, ‘enough is enough.’ It got to us. We’re going to take a stand and step up and tell people our view and, hopefully, bring people along into the conversation.” -- Edward Stack, CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the nation's largest sporting goods stores, announcing that his company will no longer sell military assault-style rifles or high capacity magazines. Stack, the son of Dicks's founder, noted that his store had sold Parkland shooter Nick Cruz a shotgun last year, and while it wasn't used in the shooting:
“But it came to us that we could have been a part of this story. We said, ‘We don’t want to be a part of this any longer.’”Dick's also released a statement saying they would no longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 years of age and that the company supported a ban on assault-style firearms. Read the full statement here.
UPDATE: As commenter donnah notes, Dick's suspended sales of assault rifles after the Sandy Hook massacre, only to start selling them again a year later. We need to make sure this time is different.
2 comments:
I'm glad to see a major retailer stand up. I had read that they did this before, after Sandy Hook, but I haven't confirmed it. I hope they stick to it this time.
I never realized how often “gun” terminology is used. I almost typed they “stick to their guns” and the other day I erased, “pull out the big guns”. I need to clean up my own vocabulary!
donnah - you're right, they did stop sales after Sandy Hook but then started again a year later. Need to keep the pressure on and eyes wide open!
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