Holiday shop at Dick’s
Sporting goods store takes stance on guns, loses customers after limiting accessibility.
We’re usually not in the business of giving Christmas shopping tips. But if you’re looking for a gift with some meaning, one that could boost a worthy cause, we’ve got an idea.
Consider something from Dick’s Sporting Goods.
You see, the retail chain’s bottom line has been hurt by its decision to stop selling assault-style guns and to limit gun purchases to customers 21 or older. Sales at Dick’s stores and websites fell 3.9 percent for the three-month period that ended Nov. 3. Dick’s Chief Financial Officer Lee Belitsky said fewer hunters are coming into its stores and that has impacted purchases in outdoor equipment and other departments.
That’s the punishment the gun industry hoped Dick’s would suffer for taking a morally responsible position after February’s mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 people dead. The alleged gunman had purchased a shotgun from a Dick’s outlet. It wasn’t the weapon used in the massacre — an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle legally purchased elsewhere — but Dick’s responded anyway.
“We support and respect the Second Amendment,” said Dick’s CEO Ed Stack, “and we recognize and appreciate that the vast majority of gun owners in this country are responsible, law-abiding citizens. But we have to help solve the problem that’s in front of us. Gun violence is an epidemic that’s taking the lives of too many people, including the brightest hope for the future of America — our kids.”
Retribution was swift. MKS Supply, manufacturer of High Point firearms, said it no longer would do business with Dick’s. So did gun maker O.F. Mossberger & Sons, which claims to be the largest pump-action shotgun manufacturer in the world. Both companies became more agitated after Dick’s ratcheted up its advocacy by hiring three lobbyists to help press the case for sensible gun laws in Washington.
“We fully disagree with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent anti-Second Amendment actions,” said Mossberg CEO Iver Mossberg in a press release. “Consumers are urged to visit one of the thousands of pro-Second Amendment firearm retailers to make their purchases.”
It seems many potential gun buyers decided to follow Mossberg’s advice and shun Dick’s.
Walmart also stopped selling guns to customers under 21 after the Parkland shooting, but it hasn’t reported a related slowdown in sales. Three years ago Walmart stopped selling what it calls “modern sporting rifles,” which include the AR-15. It also does not sell bump stocks or high-capacity magazines, which seem to have little purpose other than to make mass killing more efficient.
It is particularly noteworthy to see retailers put people’s lives above profits at a time when the president of the United States has suggested that a weapons sale is more important than the life of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist for an American newspaper who was murdered and dismembered in Turkey by meticulous thugs who owe their sole allegiance to Saudi Arabia’s ruling family.
What has happened to this country’s moral compass that our elected leaders can remain all but silent in the face of such brutality for the sake of preserving profits for weapons dealers?
Congress has been too mired in partisan acrimony to make a difference. Even when its own members become gun violence victims — as Gabbie Giffords did in 2011 and Steve Scalise did in 2017 — it has proved incapable of updating current law to reflect the carnage possible with the weaponry readily available to the general public.
That’s why it is heartening to see retailers who sell guns join the effort to stir our government to action.
The Second Amendment is being exploited by people who stand to profit financially or politically by preventing good sense to influence its application. Too many have forgotten that the Constitution has always permitted reasonable, measured exceptions to the right to own guns. Dick’s has helped remind us of that. Anyone — an individual, a retailer or any organization — that takes a stand against gun violence deserves support, especially when it’s done at personal risk. Dick’s is putting people before profits. Keep that in mind when you’re looking for that special gift this holiday season.