Wal-Mart to Stop Selling Semiautomatic Rifles, Citing Declining Demand
August 26 2015 - 3:49PM
Dow Jones News
By Paul Ziobro
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will soon stop selling semiautomatic
rifles, removing what have become politicized items from shelves
for reasons the retailer says are purely business.
Wal-Mart, the nation's biggest seller of guns and ammunition,
will eliminate AR-15s and other modern sporting rifles, spokesman
Kory Lundberg said Wednesday. Instead, the retailer will carry more
shotguns and other hunting weapons. Mr. Lundberg said the decision
was based on shifting demand from shoppers. "It's about what
customers are buying and what they're not," he said.
The change, reported earlier Wednesday by Quartz, comes as such
semiautomatic arms, described by opponents as assault weapons,
remain a flash point in the national gun debate that is faced with
yet another high-profile shooting. On Wednesday morning, two
television reporters were killed while conducting an interview in
Moneta, Va.
Wal-Mart's decision to phase out modern sporting rifles was
months in the making, Mr. Lundberg said. The changes are being
rolled out to stores this week as Wal-Mart updates its sporting
goods sections for the fall season. The guns Wal-Mart are removing
are sold in less than a third of its 4,500 U.S. stores.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 26, 2015 15:34 ET (19:34 GMT)
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