Dick's Sporting Goods Destroys Rifles
By JESSICA MOTTA
Popular sporting goods store, Dicks Sporting Goods, has taken over $5 million in military style semi-automatic rifles off the shelves and destroyed them. Chief executive, Edward W. Stack commented that the stores are reviewing whether it could continue to sell guns in its over 720 stores.
Stack along with his wife, Donna, have been debating about selling firearms like the AR-15 and other military-style weapons since the February 2018 shooting in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people. The person behind the massacre that happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School purchased a gun in a Dick’s Sporting Goods store, according to Laura Holson, The New York Times journalist. Despite that gun not being used in the shooting, Stack and his wife met with survivors in Florida, learning about what happened that day.
It was announced in April 2018 that the store planned to destroy the military-style rifles it took off the shelves after shooting. According to LouisCasiano, Fox News journalist, Stack did this saying, “If we really think these things should be off the street, we need to destroy them.”
Earlier this year, Dick's stopped selling guns and hunting rifles at 125 of its stores after a 10-store test showed positive results, Casiano noted. In addition to doing this, Dick’s also will not sell a gun to anyone under the age of 21. Doing so would cost the company a quarter of a billion dollars, but the action did not affect its stock price, which climbed after the Parkland Shooting, Holson said.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Stack criticized Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, for faltering on gun control legislation. According to Holson, Stack further supports his stance, saying, “I don’t understand how somebody, with everything that’s gone on, could actually sit there and say, ‘I don’t think we need to do a background check on people who buy guns. It’s just, it’s ridiculous.”
According to Casiano, other stores have followed suit, and Walmart announced last month that it would terminate handgun sales in Alaska and the sale of short-barrel rifle and handgun ammunition nationwide. Out of all of the stores, Dick’s has been the most proactive.
When being confronted with his choice to discontinue the selling of these weapons, the chief executive said, “So many people say to me, you know, ‘If we do what you want to do, it’s not going to stop these mass shootings. And my response is: ‘You’re probably right. It won’t. But if we do these things and it saves one life, don’t you think it’s worth it?’” Holson reported.
Works Cited
Casiano, Louis. "Dick's Sporting Goods CEO says company destroyed $5 million worth of weapons." Fox News, FOX News Network, 7 Oct. 2019, www.foxnews.com/us/dicks-sporting-goods-ceo-says-company-destroyed-5-million-worth-of-weapons. Accessed 27 Oct. 2019.
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Holson, Laura M. "Dick's Sporting Goods Destroyed $5 Million Worth of Guns." The New York Times [New York City], 8 Oct. 2019. The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/business/dicks-sporting-goods-destroying-guns-rifles.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2019.