by Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
Walmart is set to stop selling so-called assault rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and other modern-capacity firearms of the sort anti-gun media and politicians blame for mass murders, Forbes and other business news publications reported in late August.
That may be bad news for Walmart customers, but good news for smaller, independent federally licensed firearms dealers who found it difficult to match the chain’s discount policies.
Walmart made the original announcement on the same day that two television journalists in Virginia were murdered on live television by a man wielding a handgun, but the retailer did not mention the shootings.
Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon had indicated he might do this in a June 23 interview with CNNMoney.
“Our focus in terms of firearms should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays, and things like that,” said McMillon in June. “So the types of rifles we sell, the types of ammunition we sell, should be curated for those things.”
The world’s largest retailer confirmed rumors of the move to pro-gun website BearingArms.com recently but the news hasn’t gotten much media play except in business publications.
Walmart spokesperson Kory Lundberg told the website that lagging sales motivated the big-box giant’s decision rather than politics.
“We previously carried modern sporting rifles in less than a third of our stores,” Lundberg told Forbes. “Our merchandising decisions are driven largely by customer demand. In our everyday course of doing business, we are continually reviewing and adjusting our product assortment to meet our customers’ needs.”
But the chain has faced pressure over the past few years to take firearms including the AR-15 off its shelves, both from anti-gunners like Michael Bloomberg-backed Moms Demand Action and, more recently, an Episcopal church in New York’s Financial District.
Despite the statement by Lundberg, there has been plenty of pressure, particularly from influential stockholders like Trinity Church.
Walmart seemingly emerged victorious in a court battle against Trinity Church in April.
The church—a Walmart shareholder—had taken issue with the retailer’s sale of guns with high-capacity magazines of the sort that made news in Newtown, Aurora, Tucson and elsewhere.
Investor’s Business Daily reported in April that the US Court of Appeals reversed a previous ruling that would have required Walmart to let its shareholders vote on a proposal for tighter oversight of firearm sales at its June annual meeting.
After that court ruling, Trinity Church’s Rector Rev. Dr. William Lupfer said he and his team will have a discussion with Walmart’s counsel to see whether they can come to an agreement and drop their lawsuit against the retail chain.
“Trinity Church is very pleased to hear that Walmart will no longer sell the kinds of weapons that have caused such devastation and loss in communities across our country,” he said in a statement regarding the chain’s decision.
“We continue to believe that corporate boards have the responsibility to oversee the creation of policies that will guide decision making on marketing and other issues that could have momentous impact on the safety and well-being of society and to shareholder value.”
Walmart will sell off its remaining inventory of assault rifles and other guns with a magazine capacity of seven or more rounds, according to BearingArms.com. However, other sources have indicated these weapons will be replaced with “other hunting and sportsman firearms such as shotguns and rifles based on customer demand,” Lundberg said.
Walmart made the announcement on John R. Lott Jr., writing in Investor’s Business Daily, noted that while modern sporting rifles aren’t selling quite like they did in 2013, “they’re still the best-selling rifles in America.”
Lott sees Walmart’s decision leaving the poor vulnerable.
Sales of US-made rifles increased 119% between 2010 and 2013, the latest year for which data are available. Between 2001 and 2013, there was a 212% increase. More recent background-check data suggest gun sales have continued to soar since 2013.
Lott noted that Walmart might be seeking goodwill.
“In 2013, the Washington Post announced that the White House was trying to work with Wal-Mart to help push gun-control strategies. This year, New York City’s employee pension fund is considering divesting from Wal-Mart because it was selling “assault weapons.” Trinity Wall Street Church tried to force a shareholder vote on limiting what types of guns the company could sell.
He continued: “Perhaps the company that used to be labeled ‘the nation’s first politically incorrect discount retailer’ — on issues from the minimum wage to the use of products made in foreign countries to the construction of superstores in urban areas — feels that taking these guns off its shelves could buy some political good will.”
