Edward W. Stack, the chief executive of Dick’s Sporting Goods, said in an interview this week that his company had destroyed more than $7.4 million in military-style, semiautomatic rifles and was reviewing whether it would continue to sell guns in its more than 720 stores.
Mr. Stack was speaking with CBS Sunday Morning while promoting his new book, It’s How We Play the Game.
“So many people say to me, you know, ‘If we do what you want to do, it’s not going to stop these mass shootings,’” Mr. Stack told CBS. “And my response is: ‘You’re probably right. It won’t. But if we do these things and it saves one life, don’t you think it’s worth it?’”
Mr. Stack said that he and his wife, Donna, have been weighing the moral consequences of selling firearms patterned on the AR-15 and other military-style weapons since the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The couple had learned that the gunman had bought a gun from a Dick’s store. Although that firearm was not used in the Parkland shooting, which left 17 dead, Mr. Stack and his wife met with survivors in Florida.
America's string of mass shootings has left some brands reconsidering their approach to gun sales. Source: Getty Images North America
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In April 2018, Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the largest firearms sellers in the United States, said it planned to destroy the military-style rifles it had agreed to take off its shelves weeks after the shooting. “I said: ‘You know what? If we really think these things should be off the street, we need to destroy them,’” Mr. Stack said.
Previously, the Pennsylvania retailer had also agreed to ban the sale of military-style rifles at its 35 Field & Stream stores, and to stop selling firearms and ammunition to anyone younger than 21.
Mr. Stack told CBS that the restricted sales cost the company a quarter of a billion dollars.
America's close ties with the right to bear arms has proven a hot topic for citizens and corporate entities alike. Source: Getty Images North America
Since the massacre in Parkland, corporations have responded to the public’s growing demand for gun control measures. Among them are Walmart, the nation’s largest gun seller; L.L. Bean; and Kroger, which said in 2018 it would restrict gun sales at its Fred Meyer stores. Dick’s, though, has been one of the most proactive.
“I don’t understand how somebody, with everything that’s gone on, could actually sit there and say, ‘I don’t think we need to do a background check on people who buy guns,’” Mr. Stack said. “It’s just, it’s ridiculous.”
Mr. Stack told CBS he had already removed all guns from more than 100 Dick’s stores and was considering expanding the ban to the rest of them. “We’ve got the whole category under strategic review to see what we’re going to do,” he said.
