Dick's Sporting Goods, a prominent seller of guns in the United States, said on Wednesday it will permanently stop selling assault-style rifles after the massacre at a Florida high school that has reopened a fierce debate over gun control in America.
The company will also stop selling high-capacity magazines and will not sell any guns to people under age 21, Dick’s chief executive Ed Stack said in an open letter on the company’s website and in television interviews.
"We're taking these guns out of all of our stores permanently," he told ABC News regarding the assault-style rifles.
Dick’s announcement came as classes resumed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people, mostly students, were killed two weeks ago in one of the deadliest US mass shootings.
The massacre spurred a youth-led wave of protests, and state and national officials are considering whether to take gun control measures.
Sandy Hook
Dick's removed assault-style weapons from its Dick's-branded stores after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 20 young children and six adults. Wednesday's move takes them out of its 35 Field & Stream outlets as well, Mr Stack said, adding the measure would be permanent.
Dick's, based in Pennsylvania, was the latest company to take action after the Florida shooting. Other businesses have cut ties with the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers.
Mr Stack said Dick’s respects the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners but was obliged to address a national gun epidemic that is killing too many children. – Reuters