Dick’s Sporting Goods announced Wednesday morning that its sister company, Field & Stream, would discontinue the sale of AR-15 rifles, and that the entire company would raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21.
The press, which rewarded the news with high praise and enthusiastic headlines, seems to have gotten ahead of itself a bit. We’ve been down this road before, but you’d never know it from watching the news.
Dick’s CEO Edward Stack, himself a gun owner, appeared on CNN Wednesday morning to explain, and praise, the company’s decision.
“Everybody talks about thoughts and prayers going out to them, and that’s great, but that doesn’t really do anything. We felt we needed to take a stand and do this,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
If the survivors of the Feb. 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida are “brave enough to organize and do what they’re doing,” Stacks added, “we should be brave enough to take the stand, and that’s what we’ve done.”
His media appearance, and the coinciding news release, went over well in newsrooms. “Politicians may lack courage to stand up to NRA. But Dick’s Sporting Goods … will stop selling assault-style weapons and raise minimum age for all gun sales to 21,” tweeted CNN’s Erin Burnett. The Associated Press tweeted, “BREAKING: Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the nation’s largest outdoor gear retailers, ends sale of assault-style rifles in stores.” The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune followed with variations of the Associated Press’ breaking news announcement.
These headlines lack some necessary context.
For starters, it’s been six years since Dick’s stores sold AR-15 rifles. The company ended sales shortly after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. Field & Stream, on the other hand, has been selling them. That ends today. Though the news alerts aren’t wrong, there’s a difference between saying Dick’s, which has 600-plus locations, has ended all sales versus saying the same of Field & Stream, which has 35 locations.
As for the Dick’s announcement, I have some exit questions.
First, Stack claims the decision is tied to the fact the Parkland gunman purchased a shotgun from a Dick’s store last November. Stack mentions that it wasn’t the same firearm as the one used in the school shooting, but that “it could have been.” If that’s the thinking behind the AR-15 announcement, then take it a step further. End all sales of shotguns. Or take it further still: Handguns, after all, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of gun-related deaths in the United States, according to FBI crime statistics. If Dick’s wants to put an end to the killings, halting the sale of the type of firearm used in the Virginia Tech shooting would get them closer to that goal.
Wednesday’s announcement seems chiefly designed to stave off criticism from pro-gun control advocates. Would it be too cynical to point that out?
