CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods Edward Stack defended his company’s decision to stop selling assault style rifles on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday and said it was “the right thing to do.”
“After Parkland, we were so disturbed and saddened by what happened in Parkland that we said we need to do something. We talked about what we needed to do, and we felt we needed to make a statement that we will no longer sell assault-type rifles, high capacity magazines and a few other things.” he said.
Stack thinks thoughts and prayers are useless to gun violence victims and believes his store is taking tangible action to change things.
“Our hearts went out to those kids and to their parents. 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,” Stack added.
“We think it’s the right move, and whatever happens, we think this is the right move,” he continued. “It’s the right thing to do for these kids. It’s the right thing to do for what is going on and we hope it spurs a conversation and brings people along to have a serious conversation about what’s happening in our schools and with gun violence and put a stop to it. I’m a gun owner myself. I’m a supporter of the Second Amendment, but we have to do something about this. This is tragic what’s going on and we’re taking a stand.”
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Stack also said he believes most gun owners are on his side of the issue and see the move as an admirable attempt to deescalate gun violence.
“We’ve had so many gun owners also say, you know what, this is the right thing to do. We don’t feel that we really need to have these types of guns on the market,” Stack concluded. “We don’t feel these high capacity magazines should be on the market. We actually think when this happens and there’s a shooting like this, it actually hurts what’s going on for responsible gun owners who are using them for target practice, shooting sporting clays and hunting. So we’ve had a lot of people who are in that camp who have said, we’re good with what you’re doing.”
Free Beacon reporter Steven Gutowski went on Twitter and said Dick’s wasn’t being fully transparent, claiming the store had already stopped selling these types of guns at their main locations six years ago.
Dick’s is getting lots of publicity for this but they haven’t sold these kind of guns in their main stores for over 6 years. https://t.co/rT7F8Mq34L
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 28, 2018
They had been selling them in a smaller chain they owned but not in the main stores. This is not as significant a move as they want people to believe.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 28, 2018
Here’s why this detail matters: There’s over 600 Dick’s locations in the United States. There’s 35 Field and Stream locations. It’s important to understand what is actually happening.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 28, 2018
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