Dick’s Sporting Goods will stop selling assault-style rifles after lack of legislation action on guns

Dick’s is entering into a polarising national conversation that most companies tend to avoid

Dick's Sporting Goods announced that it will immediately end sales of assault-style rifles and high capacity magazines at all of its stores and ban the sale of all guns to anyone under 21 years old (AP)

One of the nation’s largest sports retailers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, has announced that it will immediately stop selling assault-style rifles and won’t sell guns to those under 21.

The move comes after what appears to be a continuous stalemate in Congress over the issue of gun control, even after a mass school shooting in Florida. Two weeks ago, a 19-year old is alleged to have killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland using an AR-15 assault-style weapon.

“When we saw what the kids were going through and the grief of the parents and the kids who were killed in Parkland, we felt we needed to do something,” Chairman and chief executive Edward Stack said in an interview with Good Morning America.

In a letter released on Wednesday, Mr Stack wrote: ”We support and respect the Second Amendment, and we recognize and appreciate that the vast majority of gun owners in this country are responsible, law-abiding citizens. But we have to help solve the problem that’s in front of us. Gun violence is an epidemic that’s taking the lives of too many people, including the brightest hope for the future of America – our kids.”

The alleged gunman in the Florida shooting, Nikolas Cruz, had purchased a shotgun at a Dick’s store in November 2017, Mr Stack said.

“It was not the gun, nor type of gun, he used in the shooting,” Mr Stack wrote. “But it could have been. Clearly this indicates on so many levels that the systems in place are not effective to protect our kids and our citizens.”

Mr Stack said on Good Morning America that Dick’s is ready for any potential backlash, but it will never allow the sale of assault-style rifles in its stores again.

He has also called on elected officials to take action by banning assault-style firearms, bump stocks and high capacity magazines and by raising the minimum age to buy firearms to 21. He said universal background checks should be required, and there should be a complete universal database of those banned from buying firearms.

While multiple legislators have proposed new bills to clamp down on gun access, none of the measures are currently expected to pass both chambers of Congress.

Meanwhile, on the state level, gun control legislation is moving through the Florida legislature at an unusually quick pace.

After years of loosening restrictions on firearms, powerful committees in Florida’s Senate and House of Representatives have approved a package of bills that would raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 from 18, mandate a three-day waiting period for most gun purchases, and increase funding for school safety measures and access to mental health care. The bills must now be approved by the full House and Senate, and approved by Republican Governor Rick Scott.

Also included in the package is a contentious proposal to arm school staff, including teachers, who would be trained by law enforcement to carry concealed weapons on campus.

By cutting off sales of assault-style weapons in its stores, Dick’s is entering into a polarising national conversation that most companies tend to avoid so as not to offend potential customers.

In the wake of the Florida shooting, several companies have distanced themselves from the National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful gun-rights lobbying group that has been attributed as a reason for the US’s generally weaker gun laws.

The NRA called the companies’ decisions to cut ties a “shameful display of political and civic cowardice.”

Gun-control advocacy groups said voters and corporations are taking the lead on US gun policy and that legislators need to catch up.

“This is the moment when business leaders across the country get to decide if they want to stand on the right side of history. Mothers make the majority of spending decisions for their families, and we want to shop with businesses that care about the safety of our families – making this a smart business move, too,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, the Associated Press reported.

“Dick’s Sporting Goods should be applauded,” she added.

President Donald Trump is meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday to discuss school and community safety. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are struggling to overcome the political challenges of passing a narrow background-checks bill that Mr Trump is supporting.

Republican leaders said on Tuesday that they would not raise the minimum age for gun buyers.