Some of the biggest names in business have been distancing themselves in recent days from hard-core U.S. gun culture by severing ties with the National Rifle Association. Wednesday brought the most dramatic move to date, when Dick’s Sporting Goods said it would stop selling assault-style rifles and raise the minimum age for buying firearms at its 610 stores from 18 to 21.
While gun experts and analysts warn that these moves are unlikely to have a significant impact on the availability of guns in the United States, the string of corporate decisions signals the growing pressure to take sides in the country’s increasingly divisive gun debate.
As gun owners have become more insistent about their rights, ownership overall has been waning. In 2016, guns were present in fewer than a third of U.S. households, according to the widely respected General Social Survey. That is 22 percentage points lower than the high of 54 percent recorded in 1977.
The latest corporate announcements were spurred by the killing of 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school two weeks ago when an assailant allegedly used an assault-style rifle. Since then, Enterprise Rent-A-Car said it would end discounts to NRA members. The First National Bank of Omaha stopped issuing an NRA-branded Visa card. Delta Air Lines ended its own NRA discounts — which drew a rebuke from Georgia’ lieutenant governor, who threatened to kill a state tax break on jet fuel in retaliation. The decision by Dick’s prompted more strong reactions, even though the retailer stopped selling assault-style rifles at its main store locations in 2012. Wednesday’s announcement expands this to cover the 35 Field & Stream stores it owns. The retailer will still sell hunting rifles and accessories.
Dick’s chief executive Edward Stack said in a statement that the retailer was motivated to change its policies because “thoughts and prayers are not enough,” a reference to the much-derided phrase sometimes offered after mass shootings. Stack was alarmed that the 19-year-old accused in the Parkland shooting had purchased a shotgun at a Dick’s store last year, although that weapon was not used in the mass shooting. Stack also called for officials to enact “common sense gun reform.”
The sudden decision to stop selling assault-style rifles, along with the other changes, means that the retailer suddenly has an inventory it is never going to sell. A company spokeswoman said the company had not decided what it would do with those assault-style rifles but said “the company has committed that the guns will not be made available in any marketplace in any way.”