Press release:
Daniel Defense Terminates Relationship with Academy Sports
Black Creek, GA- June 16, 2016. Daniel Defense—engineer and manufacture of the world’s finest firearms, precision rail systems, and accessories— Has announced it will no longer sell firearms to Academy Sports due to their decision to remove MSR’s from their website and in-store displays.
Letter to all Daniel Defense Distributors:
“As you know we take our partnership with our stocking retailers very seriously. We are committed to serving and supplying them at the highest level and expect our retailers to have that same level of commitment to our brand and our industry. Unfortunately, Academy Sports has made a corporate decision, in the wake of the recent terrorist attack, to remove all MSRs from their website and in-store displays. Academy Sports has communicated that they intend to continue to sell the MSR category of firearms without displaying or advertising them publicly. As a prominent MSR brand, Daniel Defense cannot support decisions that are completely contrary to the values of our company and industry. Therefore, as of today, June 16th, I request that you place Academy Sports on a Do Not Sell list for all Daniel Defense products and terminate any shipments to their stores or distribution centers. It is unfortunate that we have to make this decision, but it is clearly the right thing to do for our brand, our industry and our constitutional right. Thank you for your support.”
Bill Robinson, VP of Sales
“Academy’s decision clearly segregates firearms by their appearance, which sends a dangerous message to our politicians that it’s acceptable to do so. We as an industry must stand and fight, together.”
Marty Daniel, President and CEO
Another Dicks. I still do not give Dicks Sporting Goods any money, I don’t have an Academy near me but if one opens I will boycott them as well.
Same here. At one time, I spent about $2K a year at Dicks. (I have a very expensive hobby. 🙂 ) Their store was conveniently located, and at the time, they had the products I usually needed. When they slit their wrists by playing politics with their product line, I stopped shopping there cold turkey. I had to drive an extra 10 plus miles to shop, but it was worth every inch of inconvenience. I have often wondered what kind of idiot who calls himself/herself CEO would jump in the middle of a passionate political battle and take sides, especially when the conflict is around Constitutional and civil rights? You would think that a CEO of a large corporation would understand that leaders change like the wind. As a business leader, if you have any interest in the long term success of a company, the last thing you want to do is piss off any one side of the political spectrum. Eventually, these decisions will catch up to Dick’s and Academy Sports, this I am sure.
BTW, I think I will go out this weekend and buy a Daniel Defense rifle. I do not need another rifle, but this is worth it.
Drop Daniel Defense a note if you do so, they might appreciate it…
Don’t forget Dick’s decided to get back into the firearms market under an alias: Field & Stream. Include that storefront in your boycott.
Is “Field and Stream” a store name? Dickless has been selling Chicom POS outdoor crap branded “Field and Stream” for some time. Back before their AR sellout.
Am I missing something? Last time I looked in an Academy, I didn’t see any Daniel Defense products for sale anyway. Seems like an empty gesture if they never sold to them to begin with…
Maybe you didn’t see them because they sold so fast. According to another gun blog:
“Daniel Defense DDM4 rifles was a strong-selling product line for Academy Sports. The sporting good chain literally couldn’t keep the premium AR-style rifles on the shelves in the chain’s firearms departments.”
Well, a (actually another) DDM4 is now on the list. My DD 6.8SPC has been a flawless hunting companion for the last 6 years, and I’ve been trying to justify yet another 556. This is fine enough justification.
Bingo. Same here.
Justification? You don’t need any justification. Just sell some of those goats and buy you one.
One of those goats is worth half a dozen of those rifles.
Good for them- what Academy Sports did was try to have their cake and eat it too. However it was a half-ass, candy-ass move that would only enrage POTG and be a hollow gesture that doesn’t go far enough for anti-gunners.
Good for Daniel Defense. I like their products, and now may buy some more once I have some extra money.
You might want to wait until after the election. Unless the GOP picks a nominee who can beat Hillary (Trump cannot), Hillary will be elected with a democrat Congress and you will be turning that purchase in next summer for a $500 to $1,000 BATFE rebate. Companies like DD will be looking for new product lines, like AR Semi to Bolt Action conversion kits
” you will be turning that purchase in next summer”
Yeah, keep thinking that.
The government is not going to go door to door rounding up guns. They will have insurance companies, mortgage companies, employers, utility companies,et al do the dirty work. Your homeowner’s insurance company will cancel your coverage for possessing “dangerous assault weapons” and your mortgage company will foreclose on your home for not have having the required insurance coverage. Your employer will be required to fire you so as not to risk endangering the other employees. The electric and water companies will not connect a dangerous house. Your family will have to move in with kinfolks. It will be a gradual thing, done over time as banned weapons are uncovered by maids, burglars, handymen, cable guys, and such.
You will be able to keep bolt action and break-open rifles and shotguns, and pellet guns – assuming they are all registered and properly secured. You are the one whose thinking is delusional.
@ “Facing Reality”
This is a deadly serious question for you –
How is the government, mortgage company, power company, et.al going to know what guns I own?
Huh?
^ You probably did fill out a 4473 at some point.
@Chrispy –
I’ve done quite a bit of horse-trading and private sales and swaps for what I own…
@chrispy
I sold all of those guns already. Gun shows, private sales, trading for other goods and services. Those guns are gone!
When all help is gone, your ammo black, your men bleeding out, your throat nearly too dry for audible prayer, and your enemy offers you peaceable surrender, then it is finally time,
TO MAKE THEM THE SAME OFFER!
Demand that lib_prog_comm (D)/(R)s and gun grabbers lay down their arms quietly and lay on the ground.
Sure we will be turning them in. This isn’t Australia. Repealing the second amendment isn’t going to happen anymore than the repealing the 13th amendment would. Furthermore who is going to come take the guns? Want a gun free America see https://youtu.be/bnoFKskvSq4
Citizens will be allowed to defend themselves with legally registered break-open and bolt action rifles and shotguns. Pumps and semi-autos will be banned. Hillary’s SCOTUS will be viciously anti-gun and interpret the constitution in a gunhating manner.
See my comment above for the method of confiscation.
All it takes is Hillary winning, placing a “progressive” in SCOTUS, and over turning Heller. They don’t need to repeal the 2nd, they just need SCOTUS to say “naw, Heller was wrong, it’s not an individual right”
I’m dead serious about this. It may be requested that I turn in my AR/AK/FAL (maybe not the FAL, I don’t think the grabbers know about that one) It may be even be required by law. However, if anyone from the government wants my rifles, they will have to come and get them. I will not turn in shit.
Kurt –
Does your state, county, city, whatever have a mandatory gun registration?
Because there damn sure is none of that in Florida…
Geoff, no, no, and no. If I owned NFA items, I assume the feds keep a registry by my state, county, and unincorporated community require me to do nothing as far as possession is concerned.
I’m not turning in a damn thing. Except one boo-lit at a time. No registration where I live either. And we’ve seen how inept .guv is at stopping even one out in the open(in the closet?) muslim terrorist. POOR attempt at trolling Reality boy…
I don’t think he is trolling jwm!
I completely see where you are coming from and that does seem to be the most logical thing they would do. Cripple your way of life. Passive aggressively. Just another reason to displace ourselves out of the control grid.
If you don’t think Trump has a chance at beating Hillary, you have been watching too much mainstream media. Don’t believe the polls; all those numbers are massaged. Half the Democratic base is feeling really disenfranchised right now after the treatment Sanders received from Hillary. A lot of those Sanders supporters were young millennials and a shocking number of them have been pledging to vote for Trump or stay home. If only 10-15% of Sanders supporters stay home or vote for Trump, Hillary is in serious peril. Right now, her campaign is working overtime to try and mend those hurt feelings. Trump is in a really good position right now. Seriously, if he doesn’t commit an absolute blunder between now and November, I think he has a better chance than Hillary given the current climate. And if the economy takes a dump between now and then? He will be a shoo-in. I have seen several reports of the Clinton campaign urging the FED not raise rates through back channels, because it would mean potential disaster for them.
Excellent.
Thank-you, DD.
Note to other manufacturers: THIS is how to fight that kind of lunacy. Choke ’em… Make an example out of ’em.
Thank you mr. Marty Daniels You are the man standing up For our rights as gun owners at a cost to you sir. I’m very impressed.
It won’t cost him. Hopefully more people will buy their product now
When demand for MSR’s has never been higher stop selling MSR’s.
Makes sense.
So why go to a place like Dicks or Academy anyway? Anyone serious about a sport will seek out real equipment from a specialty shop and anyone half-assing a sport will just get their cheap equipment from Walmart. Or, just get exactly what you want online.
I never saw the utility of a massive storefront like theirs.
Good on DD for not putting up with it.
But the reality is that Academy is a huge firearms seller, and very much a player at this mid level market. At the low and mid price range, they are one of the largest firearms sellers in Texas. I know one of their store managers very well, he says the policy is incredibly annoying, because demand for the AR15 has never been higher. They aren’t selling fewer of them, it’s just a pain in the ass for the employees.
I go to my local Dunham’s because they seem to keep their plates perpetually on “sale” to some degree. Frequently in the “I could probably sell them for scrap and get more than what I paid” range. Anything else they sell, yeah, specialty stores. Or used. I don’t mind used, as long as it wasn’t misused and was well taken care of. I’m just going to use it myself, after all.
Actually, the academies I’ve been to have had really good salesman behind the gun counter. They knew their products and didn’t push people into buying. There was no Fudd lore or other nonsense. They were also owners and shooters. I’ve bought a few handguns and lots of ammo (certain calibers are cheaper than buying online) from them so I think it is unfortunate. I liked their store. I won’t be shopping there if this is how they fold after a terrorist attacks.
Way to go DD. You just went up a notch in my book.
My next AR was going to be a Bravo Company, not anymore – DD for the win!
DD is an excellent choice, but just for the sake of comparison, BCM and LaRue Tactical were some of the first manufacturers who suspended sales of unrestricted rifles to Law Enforcement agencies in states like Cali, Colorado, CT and New York after all the post Newtown legislative overreaches, opting to either suspend sales entirely or limiting government agencies and law enforcement personnel to the same restrictions placed on ordinary citizens.
Maybe it has changed, but I think Daniel Defense has not, or at least was very slow in adopting a similar stance (again if they have changed this I retract the above) regardless, Do your research before buying any MSR or accessory. My money only goes to companies with policies like the ones listed above. Don’t give your money to someone who is throwing you under the bus one legislative carve-out at a time.
Good for them. Now I hope the various distributors Academy buys from shuts off the flow and cancels their accounts. As JWT said, they’re apparently a major seller, so let’s see how long they last with the loss of a few hundred million dollars in revenue.
Academy must die.
Tom
update: Just emailed a letter to DD to that effect. With any luck they’ll get in touch with other distributors and put Academy where it belongs – out of business.
Tom
I never understood the “See no evil, hear no evil, say no evil” as a method from stopping bad things from happening.
I am not going to cry over Academy going out of business.
If companies simply state and follow local law they would not be embroiled in politics. They can simply say, we are following the law. If people want to change the law, see their politicians.
Daniel’s gets my gratitude, admiration and money
Good on them. If you’re ashamed to display my product, you’re not going to profit from it, either. Glad DD is standing on principle, at the risk of fewer sales of their products. It would be nice if some other manufacturers would follow their lead.
DD had to do what they had to do to defend their values. Just as firearms from the owner’s standpoint is about much more than the firearm itself, so should it be with manufacturers. After all, they’re not slinging Twinkies or laundery detergent over there.
It’s unfortunate, though, as Academy absolutely did not have to enter this fray. They elected this controversy with no gain at stake. Now, as with H-E-BUTT’s and Whataburger’s bizarre and unnecessary “no open carry” pronouncements, I’m severing another decades long business relationship.
I can think of half a dozen firearms we’ve bought from the Academy at I-10 near Beltway 8 location in just the last four years. What a shame.
Maybe I should buy some more DD stuff.
This majorly sucks, as Academy is my closest place other than wally world, and I buy ammo/fishing stuff there weekly AT LEAST. Theyre the only place around here that has my 124 gr HST rounds usually in stock, BAH! Bought 3 firearms from them right before and since Gunpocalypse 2012, including my very first AR. Still mad about this, dumbass feel good corporate decisions.
I ran across one blog stating that Academy is also asking for ID and keeping an ammo database of anyone buying 10 or more 20 rd boxes of .223 or 5.56. Can anyone confirm if this is true?
If anyone asks *me* for ID to buy ammo, I turn around and leave, never to darken their door again…
I once stopped at the Gander Mtn in Paducah, Kentucky, en route from Springfield to Atlanta. Found a box of Sig 10mm on sale, good price, so I grabbed one.
At the checkout the young girl asked if I was an Illinois resident! I boomed out good and loud so EVERYONE in the store heard it, “THANK GOD, NO!” and when she asked for ID I held my Georgia DL out in front of her just far enough she couldn’t read the small print on it, only my face and the state.
No offense to you good IL folks in Little Egypt, but crap like that just makes my eyeballs bleed.
Tom
Good move, DD. I will look to supporters of 2A for firearms.
I also notified Academy that I terminated my relationship with them and have a pile of its with receipts that I will be returning today.
One small step, but so is a pint of water in a flood…
well…i “used to” shop at academy…..
Good for DD!
So if Academy can prove that the corporate genius that came up with this idea is a homosexual will they be able to sue DD for refusing to supply their stores? Just askin’.
I’ve been giving Academy hell, in person, email and live chat. I encourage everybody else todo the same. I started at their website.
Good move, Academy is going to treat them like second class citizens so they took their ball and went home.
Makes me proud to own one of their barrels.
Good for DD. The only DD equipment I own is a rear aperture sight. I’ll have to remember them the next time I buy some AR stuff.
I’ll look for an opportunity to purchase from DD as a reward for their courage. As for Academy – adios.
Definitely agree. Pulling the rifles from the shelves gives people mixed ideas about why they would do so – and none of those ideas are good:
• Is academy ashamed to sell the AR15??? Are they going to pull other rifles too that operate the same? Ruger ranch rifle, etc?
• Is academy pandering to liberal corporate buddies?
• Is academy afraid of social justice warriors?
Etc.
What does this mean for any stock on hand at Academy? I live next to the store next to their HQ, and wouldn’t mind picking up something on clearance. As far as not shopping their, I’d be tempted not to, but every other shop around here seems intent on price gouging while Academy kept .22 at near a nickel a round.
The stock on hand will just move back to the stockroom from the rack behind the gun counter. They are still selling ARs, they just aren’t displaying them. Kind of a chicken-outfit move.
You’re right. Just stopped in to check, and the employees know nothing about DD’s release (which I didn’t see on the DD site either).
In other news of the incoming apocolypse, they had a cornucopia of 22. Not only did I buy 1k rounds of mini mag for $80, but they had 22 sitting on the public shelf (Golden and Winchester X). The rest was bind the counter, but no purchase limit.
You’re the reason why a boycott of a traitor retailer like Academy is not possible. You know about the B.S. they are pulling and the first thing you do is hand over money to them.
A high percentage of women just don’t see the big picture.
I’ve bought my share of firearms, ammunition and shooting related stuff from Academy. While I think that their decision to hide AR’s behind the counter reminds me of how certain legal (and actually fairly mild) adult publications were treated back in the day, we have to remember that the corporate PR people at Academy see the firearms sales as just a part of their product line. In my area Academy probably sells more baseball uniforms and soccer balls than AR’s. So this decision is aimed at calming the “safety moms” who are convinced that the evil black rifles are going to jump off the counter and shoot little Colin and Brittany.
Don’t forget little Sarah-Grace and Lawson…
All firearm and ammo manufacturers should place Academy Sports on a Do Not Sell list. All of them! Are the manufacturers going to listen? Maybe.
I love my DDM4 v7.
As a retired long bearded senior citizen, I can get away with all kinds of spit and have all the time in the world to do so. Like today, spent time touring the 5 different Academy’ s in my area, asking to see just about every ‘black rifle’ I could think of and initiating lively discussions wherever possible. GRAY POWER!
sounds like academy hired the pr guy from CTD. Another one I crossed off my list way back when
Good for them.
fu… academy
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