Many millions of Americans own guns for a variety of reasons. They are hunters, providers for their family, and use guns for sport. Many use guns to protect themselves and all that they have. Currently, there’s a battle raging on in the public sector regarding guns. It’s mainly Republicans who want to continue to uphold the Second Amendment. Why should they give up their rights because of a few bad apples?
On the other hand, you have Democrats trying to create change. They believe guns are too accessible and can get into the wrong hands. That’s exactly what happened with Dick’s Sporting Goods. After the Parkland shooting, it was revealed the shooter used one of their shotguns. The outrage was enough for Dick’s CEO Edward Stark to decide to stop selling guns.
Not only did they stop selling guns, they decided to start scrapping the inventory they had. They would rather destroy the guns than allow them to be sold elsewhere. So far, they’ve removed $5 million worth of guns off the market forever. The guns were effectively turned into scrap metal.
“All this about, you know, how we were anti-Second Amendment, you know, ‘we don’t believe in the Constitution,’ and none of that could be further from the truth,” he said in an interview with CBS. “We just didn’t want to sell the assault-style weapons that could inflict that kind of damage.”
Guns and the Second Amendment
Stack says he’s a complete supporter of the Second Amendment. In fact, he even owns many guns himself and is an avid hunter. The company he now owns first started as a fish-and-tackle shop in 1948 and grew into the behemoth it is today. They were selling guns and ammunition well before Stack began his career in 1977.
For Stack, it’s hard to reconcile. He has a love for guns and the outdoors, but 17 people died. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 changed his view completely. His company was now a part of the discussion. Students from this school and many others across the country were now demanding change from anyone associated with guns.
“We had a pit in our stomach,” he told CNN soon after the shooting. “We did everything by the book that we were supposed to do, from a legal standpoint, we followed everything we were supposed to do. And somehow this kid was still able to buy a gun from us.” The gun sold to the shooter was not the AR-15 he used at the school that fateful day. Still, it haunts Stack.
The decision to stop selling guns has cost Dick’s Sporting Goods a quarter of a billion dollars. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t an easy decision to pull and scrap them. Many other national chains are also deciding what to do in light of these types of tragedies. Walmart also is looking at ways to reduce gun and ammo sales through their stores.
