Athletic and outdoor giant Dick’s Sporting Goods will stop selling assault-style rifles in its stores and will not allow people under 21 to purchase guns, CEO Ed Stack announced this morning on “Good Morning America.”
The company, which counts more than 700 stores, is taking a major stand following the devastating shooting this month in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and teachers.
“Based on what’s happened and looking at those kids and those parents, it moved us all unimaginably,” Stack said on “GMA.” “To think about the loss and the grief that those kids and those parents had, we said, ‘We need to do something,'” he explained. “And we’re taking these guns out of all of our stores permanently.”
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Nikolas Cruz, the alleged gunman in the Florida incident, bought a gun at Dick’s, though he did not use that one in the shooting, according to the company.
“We did everything by the book. We did everything that the law required and still he was able to buy a gun,” Stack told ABC. “When we looked at that, we said, ‘The systems that are in place across the board just aren’t effective enough to keep us from selling someone a gun like that.’”
Assault-style rifles allow shooters to fire more rounds than traditional weapons. Walmart announced it would stop selling these kinds of guns in 2015.
In the weeks following the Parkland shooting, there have been renewed calls for tougher gun laws, and students have been particularly vocal on the issue.
In recent days, major companies such as Hertz and Avis have ended partnership programs with the National Rifle Association.
On social media, the hashtag #boycottnra continues to garner considerable attention.
