Dick’s Sporting Goods Reports New Gun Policies Cost the Company Major Coin
OutdoorHub Reporters 10.24.19
Dick’s Sporting Goods continues to deal with ramifications after halting the sale of certain firearms, and implementing controversial purchase requirements for buying a gun from the retail store in February of 2018.
During a surge of calls for more gun-control laws, a number of brands began taking a stance against guns and gun-rights activists. Dick’s Sporting Goods, on the other hand, took it upon themselves to create their own corporate policies. A move which has cost the chain around $250 million.
Not only did CEO Ed Stack order to remove hunting rifles from the store’s shelves, he also stopped selling ANY firearm to customers under the age of 21 and mandated the company destroy $5 million in rifle inventory.
“If we really think these things should be off the street, we need to destroy them,” he stated in CBS Sunday Morning YouTube clip below:
In the interview, Stack reveals several Dick’s employees cautioned him about the stance he was taking, but he persisted anyway and still stands by his decision.
“The hunting category is a sizable part of our business; however, there has been an overall slowdown in sales in this category since the announcement of our new firearms policy,” Stack wrote in the company’s 2018 annual report. “Despite this, we continue to believe that implementing this new policy is the right decision for our athletes and our communities. In fact, if we could go back and revisit it, we would still make the same choice today.”
And it doesn’t sound like Stack will be reconsidering any time in the near future. Actually, he’s been toying with the idea of stepping away from the firearms industry altogether.
