"We don't want to be a part of this story any longer. We actually sold the shooter a shotgun in November of last year and we … found out that we did this, we had a pit in our stomach": Dick's Sporting Goods CEO explains company's choice to stop selling assault-style rifles pic.twitter.com/LmE4GyhToa
— New Day (@NewDay) February 28, 2018
Dick’s Sporting Good’s CEO Edward Stack said that Dick’s stores will no longer sell assault-style rifles because the company doesn’t “want to be a part of this story any longer.”
Stack said that even though Dick’s didn’t sell the Florida school shooting suspect the gun that he used to kill 17 people, the company did sell him a shotgun.
{mosads}
“We actually sold the shooter a shotgun in November of last year,” Stack said during an interview with CNN’s New Day.
“When we looked at that and we found out that we did this, we had a pit in our stomachs and said we don’t want to be a part of this story and … we are not going to sell these any longer.”
Dick’s also said that it will no longer allow people under the age of 21 to buy firearms and is ending its sales of high-capacity magazines.
The shooting has reignited a wave of activism — led by student survivors of the shooting — to demand gun law reform to prevent future shootings.
Activists have specifically gone after the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Republicans backed by the group.
After the threat of boycotts, many companies have decided to cut business ties with the NRA.
Stacks has said that his company will not reverse its decision and is ready to face the backlash.
The CEO also called on Congress to tackle gun control.
“We hope that Congress will come together … with the intent of really finding a solution to this problem,” Stacks said during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”