by Bob Walsh
About 14 months ago Dicks Sporting Goods jumped on the "We hate assault weapons" bandwagon. They refused to sell any firearms to anyone under 21 and pulled all "high capacity" (actual standard factory capacity" magazines from inventory. They stopped selling evil, horrid "assault weapons." At that time they were the country's largest sporting goods retailer and a huge retailer of guns, ammunition and accessories.
The Nations Shooting Sports Federation kicked Dick's out. Mossberg, a large producer of shotguns and rifles, cut them off. Soon other manufacturers followed suit.
Politics is strange. Poll respondents said they were more likely to support Dick's because of their stance, but only 21% could name a particular product they started buying from Dick's, 69% could name a product they had STOPPED buying at Dick's because of their position.
They have lost about $150 million in sales, but their stock price has not taken a hit. They have removed hunting supplies completely from 10 stores and replaced these items with team sports supplies. It has worked well for them and they are moving that way for an additional 125 stores.
Retail changes. I still don't like Dick's and rarely went there in the first place but it is a private business and they can do what they want, mostly. The "no gun sales to persons under 21" has some legal ramifications that are being fought out in court, but that's life in the real world.
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