Dems call on Walmart to stop selling firearms
FORT DODGE, Iowa — At least four Democratic presidential candidates called on Walmart on Friday to stop selling guns after the mass shooting at one of the company’s stores in El Paso last weekend.
“The weapons they sell are killing their own customers and employees,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote on Twitter on Friday morning. “No profit is worth those lives. Do the right thing — stop selling guns.”
Later in the morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont echoed that call, pointing to Walmart employees who have objected to the company’s continued sale of guns.
“Walmart should respect the voices of its workers who are calling on the company to stop selling guns,” Sanders said. “I agree. This is exactly why I believe workers deserve representation on their board, so that their views are heeded.”
Walmart, one of the largest retailers of guns in the United States, sells rifles and shotguns in approximately half of its roughly 4,000 supercenters. The company says it offers guns where hunting or clay shooting is popular, but not in certain states, including New Mexico, and not in “urban markets.”
It stopped selling military-style rifles in 2015, citing lower consumer demand. The gunman at the El Paso store, who authorities say killed 22 people, was carrying an AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle.
“Walmart should use its power to stop selling guns in its stores until politicians and gun manufacturers get their act together and raise the standard for gun ownership in this country,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said Friday.
Walmart said this week that it was removing displays promoting violent video games from its stores. But Julián Castro, the former housing secretary and mayor of San Antonio, criticized that plan and suggested that the company stop selling guns instead.
Warren made the same point. “I think it would be more effective if instead of taking down pictures of guns, they actually stopped selling guns,” she told reporters in Iowa.
A Walmart spokesman declined to comment on the candidates’ statements, but said the company was reviewing its policies. After the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., last year, Walmart raised the minimum age for gun buyers at its stores to 21.
Warren, Sanders and Castro are among the candidates scheduled to speak at a forum on gun safety Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, sponsored by Everytown for Gun Safety and two of its branches, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.
Warren, who has stood out in the Democratic primary race for her large collection of policy plans, will unveil a proposal on gun control Saturday, according to her campaign.
Speaking to reporters in Iowa on Thursday, Warren did not offer details about her forthcoming plan, saying only that the National Rifle Association was “not going to like it.”
In calling on Walmart to stop selling guns, Warren wrote on Twitter that “sometimes, companies recognize that they have an obligation to the lives, health, and safety of their communities.” As an example, she cited CVS’ decision in 2014 to stop selling tobacco products.
“I think Walmart should be the leader here,” she told reporters.