On Wednesday – two weeks after the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead – Dick’s Sporting Goods announced that shoppers under 21 would be barred from purchasing firearms from it.
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Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, announced on March 1 that it will stop selling firearms and ammunition to anyone younger than 21 years old in Fred Meyer stores, a subsidiary of the company.
Additionally, long guns will only be sold to individuals older than 21 years of age at Dick’s, even though the state of New Jersey allows 18-year-olds to purchase them. They’re going to ban anyone who is younger than 21 so they can not buy any assault-style rifles from Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc is an omni-channel sporting goods retailer offering an assortment of sports equipment, apparel, footwear and accessories in its specialty retail stores primarily in the eastern United States. Cruz is not accused of using this weapon in the shooting, but a AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle.
The 19-year-old accused in the school slaying bought the AR-15 used in the attack legally. The NRA insists what matters isn’t the particular type of gun, but the person holding it. and how they came to obtain it.
-Raise the minimum age to buy firearms to 21.
“In response to the tragic events in Parkland and elsewhere, we’ve taken a hard look at our policies and procedures for firearm sales”, Kroger said in a statement.
Delta Air Lines, meanwhile, which ended discounts for NRA members flying to the group’s annual meeting, described the shift as an attempt to maintain a “neutral status in the current national debate over gun control amid recent school shootings”, Delta said on Twitter. The minimum age for handgun sales from a firearm dealer is 21.
However, other gun retailers in ME either declined to comment on the question of changing their sales policies or said they aren’t planning to increase their required age for rifle and shotgun purchases from the federally mandated minimum of 18.
But L.L. Bean’s new policy is evidence of a sea change in customers’ expectations of retailers that sell guns. BlackRock Inc. CEO Larry Fink, for example, said recently that “to prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society”. Dick’s also said it no longer will carry assault-style rifles.
Companies that have shifted course have tried to thread the needle by championing gun ownership rights. Before the last shooting that took place, Dick’s held a temporary suspension on all weapons when the Sandy Hook shooting took place back in 2012.
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“Huge win for America, a company taking responsibility privately but not being forced to through legislation”, said one woman on a Kenosha News Facebook post about Dick’s Sporting Goods.
