The National Shooting Sports Foundation Board of Governors has unanimously voted to expel Dick’s Sporting Goods from membership for “conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation,” NSSF announced in its weekly Bullet Points newsletter.
Dick’s is the national retail chain that announced it would no longer sell semi-auto modern sporting rifles to anyone under age 21 in the aftermath of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Feb. 14. The store took considerable heat for the decision, which included a halt on sales of original capacity magazines, and then poured gas on that political fire when it announced it would destroy guns and magazines it had left in stock, according to The Hill.
The timing could be awkward for the sporting goods chain because it just announced that four new stores would be opening this month. Those stores will be in Aurora, Colo., West Long Branch, N.J., Gurnee, Ill., and McAllen, Tex.
Here is the text of the NSSF announcement:
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“The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, Board of Governors today unanimously voted to expel Dick’s Sporting Goods from membership for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation.
“Dick’s Sporting Goods recently hired a Washington D.C.-based government affairs firm, for ‘[l]obbying related to gun control.’ Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Edward W. Stack announced earlier this year the Field and Stream stores in the retail chain would end sales of modern sporting rifles, voluntarily raise the age to 21 to purchase firearms in their stores and called for more restrictive legislation. Dick’s later announced they would destroy the remaining modern sporting rifle inventory. NSSF responded that business decisions should be individually made, but was nonetheless disappointed and the decision does not reflect the reality of the vast majority of law-abiding gun owners.”
Social media erupted when Dick’s made its initial announcement about raising the age of sale to 21 years in its stores. Many gun owners declared they would no longer spend money at any of the stores.
According to The Hill, “A spokesman for Dick’s declined to comment to Bloomberg for its report, and Glover Park didn’t respond to the outlet’s requests for comment.”
The political battle over gun rights versus gun control has been on the front burner since the Valentine’s Day attack that claimed 17 lives.
