Dick’s Sporting Goods Raises Gun Purchasing Age to 21, Won’t Sell ‘Assault-Style Rifles’ in Subsidiary Stores

By Liberty McArtor Published on February 28, 2018

Dick’s Sporting Goods will no longer sell guns to anyone under 21. The company announced Wednesday that it will also stop selling “assault-style rifles,” or modern sporting rifles, at its subsidiary Field & Stream stores. (Dick’s stores stopped selling the rifles, which include AR-15s, after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. )

Wednesday’s statement came from Dick’s CEO Edward Stack. Stack said Dick’s will also end the sale of all high capacity magazines. High capacity magazines are gun magazines that hold multiple — typically more than ten — rounds of ammunition. Stack emphasized it “will never” sell bump stocks. 

“We support and respect the Second Amendment,” Stack’s statement said. “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.”

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Stack noted that in November of 2017, a Dick’s Sporting Goods Store legally sold a shotgun to the Parkland shooter. “It was not the gun, nor type of gun, he used in the shooting,” the statement acknowledged. “But it could have been.” Dick’s will not ban the sale of shotguns, it appears. 

Stack said the company is also urging elected officials to pass a spate of gun control measures. The statement mentioned a ban on assault-style firearms, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks, raising the minimum purchase age of firearms to 21, and universal background checks that include mental health information, among others. 

President Donald Trump supports a bump stock ban, raising the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21, and strengthened background checks. He’s also voiced support for improved mental health resources and arming trained teachers in schools. 

Democrats introduced a bill to ban “assault weapons,” with a majority of support within the party. The bill is unlikely to make headway with Republicans.

“Some will say these steps can’t guarantee tragedies like Parkland will never happen again,” Stack’s statement said. “They may be correct — but if common sense reform is enacted and even one life is saved, it will have been worth it.” 

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