Right move, smart move
Dick’s Sporting Goods gun policies good for business
Though Dick’s Sporting Goods’ decision to overhaul its gun sales policies was initially controversial, even hurting the company’s bottom line for a short time, the move by the locally headquartered business is turning out to have been both right and smart as the tide of public opinion turns on guns.
After 17 people were killed in the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Dick’s chief executive Ed Stack made the call to take all assault-style weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks out of the company’s stores. And rather than returning the guns to manufacturers, Mr. Stack had $5 million worth of weapons destroyed and converted into scrap metal.
The decision to stop selling the assault-style weapons generated considerable controversy, as Second Amendment advocates and gun lobbyists threatened Dick’s with boycotts and petitions. And, one year after the Parkland shooting, it seemed the move had cost the company a considerable amount. Dick’s reported that sales fell 3.1%, a $250 million loss. At the time, Mr. Stack admitted that the gun controversy was likely to blame.
That didn’t shake Mr. Stack’s position, however, which is commendable. Gun violence is an issue of vital national importance as more Americans fear for their safety while participating in once mundane activities like attending church, seeing a movie or going to the store.
Congress has been unable to muster the wherewithal to do anything about the problem, so companies like Dick’s appear to be leading a charge. As Democratic presidential candidate and former congressman Beto O’Rourke tweeted recently, “Dick’s Sporting Goods is doing more to keep Americans safe from assault weapons than Congress.”
As it turns out, though, the right decision was also the smart decision for Dick’s. The company announced in August that store sales increased 3.2% in the second quarter — its strongest showing since 2016. And other companies — Walmart, Twitter, Levi Strauss, CVS and more — have followed suit in recent months with more strident stances against guns, timed well with new polls that show a majority of Americans, including gun owners, support federal gun control legislation.
While Dick’s decision to stop the sale of assault-style weapons generated some short-term blowback, the company weathered the storm and has come out on the other side all the better for it, proving that doing the right thing can also be good business.