Uproar has ensued since Dick’s Sporting Goods announced they would no longer sell guns to customers under the age of 21. They would furthermore no longer carry AR-15 pattern rifles (or any other similar semi-automatic rifle) nor high-capacity (whatever that means) magazines.

The policy is also being enacted at Field and Stream, the outdoor-themed subsidiary of Dick’s. For those unaware, the chain of stores has nothing to do with the magazine of the same name; one suspects the shared name is no accident. Granted, Dick’s hasn’t really sold AR-pattern rifles in their main stores for some time, as that was left to a few dozen Field and Stream stores.

Walmart followed suit by also announcing they will likewise stop offering modern sporting rifles and won’t sell firearms or ammunition to anyone under 21. Kroger and their subsidiary Fred Meyer stores will be enforcing the same policy.

The backlash has been swift. Comments sections around the web have erupted with vitriol and profanity. Teeth have been gnashed and garments rent. Some folks have even accused Dick’s of being “traitors” which is laughable. Dick’s is a publicly traded company. They don’t have a responsibility to sell what you want them to. Their responsibility is to their shareholders. To whom or what would they be traitors to?

Infer what you wish about these retailers and their motives, but I’d like to propose the following:

This isn’t a big deal. At all. Outrage about Dick’s and Walmart is a tempest in ballistic teacup. Yes, there’s the principle of the thing and all that, but let’s be realistic. The actual damage our side has incurred is minimal at best.

First, Dick’s doesn’t really sell that many guns. An IBISWorld report (purchase is required if you’re that interested) found that there is no real dominant player in firearms sales nationally.

There may be some large regional retailers, but there is no dominant firearms and ammunition seller in the US. In fact, the large retail chains that sell firearms – Cabela’s/Bass Pro Shops, Gander Mountain, Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods – only add up to about six percent of firearm sales as a whole.

Also, these companies don’t make much revenue from gun sales. Cabela’s, for instance, made about 47.1 percent of their $2.4 billion in sales in 2014 through hunting equipment, of which guns are just a small part. Presuming guns were even a quarter of that amount, that’s still a very healthy business without firearms. Gander Mountain similarly took in about 43 percent of its annual sales in that period from hunting equipment, of which, again, gun sales were only a fraction.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, on the other hand, makes its money on athletic apparel and equipment. Have a look at their page on MarketWatch. You should be able to pick up on the idea pretty quick; they’re just another retailer struggling in the Amazon era. It’s just that some of their locations — the Field & Stream stores — happen to have a gun counter.

Sports team jerseys make them more money than guns do. One of their biggest recent spikes in revenue was from selling Eagles jerseys after the Super Bowl. So Dick’s and the 35 Field & Stream stores across the country declining to carry AR-pattern rifles is no real loss in the grand scheme of things. They’re only bit players in a large, diffuse, widely disbursed retail market.

Also, their corporate policies are set by their executive board. They’re free to set policies they believe are best for revenues and their stock price. We’re free to take our business elsewhere. You can always find somewhere else to buy your Nikes and you probably weren’t going to buy any guns there anyway.

If you want to stick it to Dick’s and Walmart, buy your athletic equipment and cheap t-shirts from Amazon. As it stands, that’s who’s running much of the brick and mortar retail sector out of business anyhow.

And for those fence-sitters out there, don’t think another “assault weapon” will be some kind of panacea. It won’t be. The last one didn’t stop mass shootings and a new one won’t accomplish anything besides infringing on the rights of law-abiding and responsible gun owners.

The cascade of human failures that make school shootings such as Parkland possible have nothing to do with AR-15s being available for purchase. They have much more to do with sick people being present among us, and those around them – and sometimes the authorities that should know better – not doing something about it before tragedy unfolds.

So stop kidding yourselves. In the big picture, Dick’s Sporting Goods’ decision isn’t some sort of major deprivation for gun buyers. They apparently want to send a good portion of their customers elsewhere, so by all means let them.

Sam Hoober is a contributing editor for Alien Gear Holsters and Bigfoot Gun Belts. He also contributes regularly to USA Carry and the Daily Caller.

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88 COMMENTS

  1. I have never considered buying a firearm at a big box store. We have all known for years what the politics of these stores are.

    • They’re much more accessible than LGS that run bankers hours (9am to 5pm). We’re not all retired old men, but that seems to be the audience a lot of LGS are aiming for. So I end up having to go to F&S/Dicks/Gander/Walmart for supplies, since they’re open.

      • All I can say is my buddy runs a gun store and if you want to buy a gun but are stuck at work, he’ll come open the shop up just for you when you get off. But then again he believes in making sure his customers are satisfied…

      • Most around me that aren’t open 7 days a week tend to take off Sunday and Monday instead of Saturday and Sunday, meaning you can get in on the weekend to buy.

      • Pure BS. Most LGS are open later than 5 and on saturday. Most gun owners are not lazy millenials

      • Back in NJ most of the LGS’s closed by 6 and kept very short hours on Saturday, never enough time to complete an NJ NICS (which could take 2-8 hours depending on the day).

        Here in PA, the small LGS 10 mins away closes at 6 but opens for a full day Saturday. My range/LGS is open until 9 M-Sat and until 4 on Sunday.

        I think this guy is just in a shitty area for gun shops like when I was in NJ. It does suck when that’s all you have.

    • I stopped by a local Acadamey store the other to look at a 45 cal 1911 and they held my drivers license while I held the 1911. Anyone else have this happen. Since I am 68, I don’t thing they thought I was too young.

      • “I stopped by a local Acadamey store the other to look at a 45 cal 1911 and they held my drivers license while I held the 1911.”

        Not unusual at all with portable, (moderately) expensive goods.
        I’m sure you can figure it out, but for the trolls here: they don’t want anyone running out the door with their 1911.

      • The only time that I had that happen, it was because the inexperienced guy behind the counter thought that was required by law, like IDing for alcohol. He didn’t even want my teenage (at the time) son looking at the handguns through the glass. I asked the owner why this was and he gently educated the employee as to his error.

        It might be because of loss prevention policy or it might be due to ignorance on the part of the counter person, IMHO.

    • I have bought guns at big box stores; It depends upon the ‘box.’ It also depends upon whether or not the big box store is in Alaska or not.
      My very first gun came from Montgomery Wards–in Alaska. I bought several from Sears (ah, THOSE were the days!)–in Alaska.
      Alaska currently has its own ‘little big box store’ company, with several locations. It’s doing quite well I might add, and each location has a dedicated sporting-goods section which includes a firearm counter that does a brisk business in fully-semi-automatic assault weapons and school-piercing incendiary bullets (yes, I’m joking–they are not incendiary).
      Each one has a liquor store and a tobacco shop, too. Oh, and a discount gas station.
      It’s difficult to imagine the true feeling of liberty when one is able to buy gasoline, cigarettes, cheap candy, a huge bag of jerky snacks, some Jack Daniels, an AR, AND ammunition all in the same store.
      With no waiting period. And, as I have a State CHL (completely optional, of course–we are Constitutional Carry) with NICS exemption, I just complete a Form 4473 and Voila! New gun. No phone call.

      Alaska. . . “We don’t give a DAMN’ how they do it Outside!”

      Oh. . . and the State gives me about $1000 every year, just to live here. That’s. . . two new ARs every year, gratis.

      Giggle, snort.

  2. I made a list of businesses that through their political stance don’t want my cash. Dick’s was a place I avoided anyway due to their cheap merchandise and poor customer service. They will never see another dime from me. ‘
    As for Wal-Mart I also already avoided their stores because the people who frequented them were sketchy to say the least. Wal-Mart also hollowed out half of the main streets in small towns across the country. That being said, if you think Amazon is better you have been smoking to much Mary Jane.
    Add these places to Target, Enterprise, Delta, United and many more.
    Support your local gun store!

    • Share that list in case we missed some businesses to avoid. Not shopping at Dicks or Rei until they appologize for the crass virtue signalling and the shameless publicity stunt to exploit tragedy to foist age discrimination and todays gun conrol farce.

      This means my family will do without camping gear and apparel we would have gotten at REI and Dicks. Looks like we are going to be buying and trying out some other vendors stuff. Cabellas and Bass Pro is a futher drive but is they dont fall for the BS they are good.

      • Cabela’s is a 130 mile one way trip for me. i go there a few times a year. F/S, Academy, Dick’s are 35 miles, drive by them

  3. There is a Dicks store local to me, I look forward to the day when that strip mall is Dicks less.

  4. I don’t care about their market share, I care that it furthers the idea that firearms are dirty and should be treated as such.

  5. What would they be traitors to?

    How about America? You saying it was just fine to not serve Black ppl at the diner? Would have been just ducky for GM to produce Tiger tanks for the Germans and not Shermans for us?

    What has happened is that our present culture has flushed all respect for American traditions and freedoms down the crapper.

    • Ford made a lot of M-4 Sherman tanks. Buick did make a very nice M-18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer.

      • Ford also made thousands of B-24 Liberator bombers at his Willow Run plant; Those bombers were used to bomb. . . Ford plants in Germany that built thousands of trucks for the Wehrmacht, using slave labor. Ford sued the US and British governments after the war in an attempt to be compensated for damage done to Ford property (by Ford-built bombers).
        Ford was also not terribly fond of Jews, and was decorated with Germany’s highest civilian medal at the order of Hitler in 1938.
        GM did, indeed, build thousands of M-18 Hellcats that were sent to Europe and used to destroy thousands of GM-built (by Opel AG, GM’s German subsidiary) trucks. At one point, GM/Opel was the largest supplier of trucks to the Wehrmacht, and GM US helped Opel AG finance a brand new truck plant, intended to be further out of range of contemporary bombers, in Brandenburg in 1935.
        Oddly, GM built some of the engines for Ford’s bombers. Some of GM’s license-built engines were also produced in Germany, and powered bombers and transport aircraft.
        GM also sued for damages caused by Ford’s bombers to their German plants after the war.
        “Christopher Robin, Christopher Schmobin! A bear has GOT to eat!” –Pooh, picking his teeth calmly, tattered bits of bloody clothing strewn about him.

    • Couldn’t have said it any better. Good job. I also don’t care about market share. I know where I wish to spend my money, and it won’t be at any of these politically correct stores. I always try and buy American made products, including firearms. Walmart is the king of China. Although my wife shops there, she also tries to stay away from foreign products, It’s hard to do at Walmart. Costco is also very anti gun, but for us is a necessary evil. Amazon unfortunately is also a necessary evil. I do find they sell a lot of firearm accessories, and the only close gun shop near my small town can’t afford to always stock what I need. When the local shop carries what I need, I always buy from them. As far as firearms and accessories, Dicks and Walmart can go pound sand. I know little ol me won’t hurt their bottom line, at least I can live with myself.

      • While Cosco is anti gun, it isn’t Walmart or Sam’s Club. I do not expect the place where I buy food to even sell guns, so pro or anti don’t matter. Walmart made a line in the sand, Costco did not – that is enough reason to shop Costco and boycott Walmart and Sams.

        While a local gun store is a great place, the prices on ammo and on guns are high. I am interested in older firearms and make sure to buy from the importer or an individual.

        • Yup, they are on my buy list along with Sportsmans Guide and Brownells. Sportsmans usually has some kind of free shipping deal, usually with a 50 dollar minimum, Midway with 99 dollar purchase. All good companies.

      • Given Costco’s (and Sam’s Club’s) business plan of selling larger sized packaged goods, I wouldn’t expect them to be selling guns. One off items aren’t their thing (yes, I understand they sell produce, meats, some furniture, even plants, but they buy in bulk, which just doesn’t really lend itself to gun sales; and their sales policy is provide as little customer service as possible, which kind of does away with the whole, “Which gun would you like to see, sir” and NICS would upset their service policy, and they don’t have an FFL anyway, and don’t really want one, because of the service it would require)).
        But they do sell gun safes and ammo boxes (and I’m probably missing a few other gun-related items), so they can’t really be all that anti-gun.

    • “You saying it was just fine to not serve Black ppl at the diner? ”

      If you support basic human rights, then yes it is just fine. If you favor overbearing government telling you what to do, then the Civil Rights(sic) Act is just the thing for you.

  6. About the only retailer that sells some guns in my area is WalMart. AR-15s are not at the WalMart stores anyway. Rural King sells a lot of guns. Gander Mountain in Indy closed. Bass Pro and Cabela’s are some distance away. Lots of local gun stores in my area. I assume their business will pick up.

  7. I’m just tired of the virtue signaling from everyone. In my mind what these companies are doing is about on the same level as when a lonely and depressed kid commits suicide only to have any classmate who can get in front of a camera or audience claiming “he was my best friend and I am so sad.”

    These companies don’t care. They just don’t want to be seen not caring.

    • This. Dick’s is all about virtue signalling, since its main stores didn’t sell MSRs anyway. Their announcement makes people ASSUME they did, and that they are now being “good citizens”. Hogwash. This is false advertising. There is a Dick’s in my town–and the gun corner, which doesn’t sell handguns, is quite small. I doubt there are more than 100 long guns there.
      WalMart is also virtue signalling. They stopped selling firearms in California years ago, and they were always asking people for ID to make sure that the purchaser was over 21.
      The only other big box retailer is Spotsman’s Warehouse, and they often have firearms at decent if not tremendous prices, and occasionally good rifles at great prices. They sell more ammo than anyone else in town, plus masses of reloading supplies.
      By contrast, most of the small LGS dealers in town sell at or near MSRP, which they can get away with because they charge $75 to do a transfer on a firearm they did not sell (i.e. an internet purchase). Add in the additional $25 for the Dealer Record of Sale (DROS), shipping, and sales tax, it is rarely worth buying a firearm through the internet.

      • None of these stores care in the least about dead kids or anything else. They would happily knowingly sell rope to the Boston Strangler to make a buck. One could argue that if WalMart wanted to save lives they wouldn’t sell alcohol or knives or footballs or anything else.

        • Alcohol and knives, at least. I don’t know, but I doubt footballs come close to rivaling even MSRs in numbers of connected deaths, and that’s not a whole lot.

      • My local gun shop charges only $25 to receive an internet sale. They charge no background check fee if you have a current ccw permit. They only charge 10% consignment fee. Yea, they are usually selling at MSRP, but I like doing business with local businesses.

        • $10 total charge for an internet gun purchase where I live, and they sell their guns at discount.

  8. I drove 2.5 hours away to buy a Sig Sauer 516 from a different Academy Sports, after two Tulsa Academy Sports stores said they’d hold one for me for 24 hours, and didn’t hold it for even 12 hours. Man I wanted that rifle.

    I don’t know where they stand on Politics. I just know where I stand on piston rifles. I care, a lot. I just say, git yer sh_t, git it now, git it for a reasonable price, but then git it.

    Stay away from burning boats at sea.

  9. Gee Sam you come across as a shill for Dick’s. Let’s all not care who hates us(and 18-20 year old’s)…😩😖😧

  10. Again…..

    Like my senior citizen Dad said…It won’t take long before some “Authoritarian A******” decides old folks and old people shouldn’t be able to buy Firearms or other self-defense items…Next thing you know, No one over the age of 60 yrs can purchase/own /posess/carry, anything…..Then America is swimming up schitt’s creek without a paddle…

  12. I would not have been overly upset with Ed Stack of Dickless Sporting Goods except he went way further than he needed to go, pissing on his own customers by campaigning for gun control.

    What Walmart did was politically opportunistic. What Dickless did was right out of the Democrat playbook. Which makes sense, since Stack is a major Democrat contributor ($300,000 to the Dem Congressional PAC in 2016 alone).

  13. I don’t give a crap about what they decide to sell in their store. They can totally remove firearms and ammo for all I care.

    But that’s not the only thing they did. The COMPANY made a statement calling on our government to infringe on the rights of the people. And that is why I will not spend a dime at Dick’s from here on out.

  14. This isn’t a big deal. At all. Outrage about Dick’s and Walmart is a tempest in ballistic teacup.

    …unless you happen to be an 18-20 year old. But, hey: screw them, right?

    Infringement of the rights of some of us is infringement of the rights of all of us.

    • How is the right being infringed? Is your right to buy a firearm infringed because they don’t sell firearms at Hallmark? Is your right to buy a firearm infringed because they don’t sell firearms at Radio Shack? Of course not.

      Look, I’d much rather the private market sort this out among themselves, than the government step in and make some sweeping law about it.

      I support the religious freedom act and its implication that someone should not be forced (FORCED) to make a cake for a Satanist wedding. And if someone chooses not to sell firearms at all, I’m fine with that too. And if someone chooses not to sell firearms to 18-20 year olds, I find that acceptable SO LONG AS it is not some government infringement.

      Dick’s crossed the line by calling for all-out advocacy. They have let me know they don’t want my business. That’s fine. I won’t give it to ’em. But I will not be party to FORCING them to sell something that goes against their “principles” (such as they are).

  15. This is the point I’ve been making to people. Who’s next? Will Safeway announce that they’re no longer selling ARs? Nordstroms? Maybe The Container Store? Who gives a f*%k…..

  16. It doesn’t matter if it is a small gesture to go after Dick’s and Walmart….the left never considers anything too small to attack, any gesture too small to attack….we need to call them, and let them know that they have made opponents of the 2nd Amendment community….they need to see this in their pocket book and through their customer service division….

    Not one more gun, bullet or magazine can be surrendered to these morons….

    • Well, go out and do something then. Do what they do. Call the news cameras, then go up to their store with a great big sign that says “Won’t support the 2A? SUCK MY DICK’S”. Get 10 of your friends, and go protest and call the news. That’s what the other side does, and it works for them.

      • Works for them because the complicit media will run to cover a half dozen people protesting gun violence. Good luck getting them to provide the same coverage to ten times as many pro-rights protesters.

        • Works for them because they don’t have actual jobs or schooling to get to. These days people who have actual useful shit to do don’t go wave a sign around in front of a business.

          When the economy was really in the shitter I often wondered what the husbands of MDA moms actually did to support their wive’s little “hobby” of protesting all the goddamn time.

  17. It’s not a big deal. Which makes the blatant virtue-signaling all the more transparent.

    That alone is plenty reason to write them off.

  18. I don’t care much about whether Dick’s decides to sell rifles or not. I do care about them publicly advocating that no one else be allowed to sell them either!

  19. At first I thought the name of the guy in the picture was Sam Hoober because I’ve heard the BS that comes out of the mouth of the guy in the picture and it usually sounds a lot like the BS in the OP.

    Both Stupid Dick’s and Wallyworld used their positions as mass marketing chain stores to make a political statement against the 2A. So I’ll use my wallet to make one against them.

  20. So if I were inclined to want the attention I would get a sign printed up saying that I would buy an AR for any 18 year old that wants one but cant because of the stupid 21 and up policy. In smaller print I would also state that I would pay the transfer fee for them at the nearest FFL. Sale is legit, transfer is legal and media gets all worked up.

    But I have no desire for the attention. This would bring.

  21. To people reading this blog, it does not matter. We shop at places like Dicks and WalMart as rarely as possible for anything, and for guns not at all. However it does matter. If big box stores stop carrying MSR’s, newbies will never be exposed to them. Newbies (all of us were newbies if our parents were not gun-owners and we were not in the military) want to see and touch a large selection of guns, and where else but the big box? As others have noted, most LGS’ have very restricted business hours, grossly inconvenient to working people. Most newbies do not know how to purchase through the mail and pick up at an FFL, and would not want to do a private purchase. By taking MSR’s away from the big boxes, overpriced as they are, the message to would-be long-gun owners is clear – you are to own a bolt action rifle or a shotgun. If hunting or home protection with a shotgun is not your thing, you are SOL. This is part of the long game that is often discussed here – to change the perception from guns are OK because it is America to only certain guns that we, the elites, deem are OK, and then no guns for you peons because we know best. The best thing that we can do is to convince smaller shops, whether LGS’ but especially regional sporting goods stores to have at least some business hours that are convenient to working people, and to keep a reasonable inventory. In my experience Sportsman’s Warehouse is a good example of a small chain that understands. Mace Sports in North Carolina is an example of a large local store that understands. Vance Sports in Ohio is another. I once bought a handgun mail order from an LGS in another community, had it shipped to a small, local FFL, and still paid substantially less than if I had purchased the same gun at a big box. I am not the biggest spender on firearms, but I have spent more on these guys than I have spent at a big box. Perhaps others can name other local and regional stores that would fit the model, would be willing to work with newbies and win customers for the long term.

    • “This is part of the long game that is often discussed here – to change the perception from guns are OK because it is America to only certain guns that we, the elites, deem are OK, and then no guns for you peons because we know best.”

      Yup.

    • I know the owner of one of the LGS’s here quite well. He does a very brisk business in all types of firearms and is, probably, close to putting the other LGS out of business. He already put one of his competitors out of business.

      He has pretty much the same stock for ammo, targets, shooting supplies, though his pistol selection might be a bit different than his competition. Prices are usually about the same too.

      The only thing he really does differently? He’s open from 12 noon to 8:30pm instead of closing up at 5pm. He does almost all his business from 5:30-8:30pm.

      • 5% of residents on the American colonies gave a damn/participated in the American Revolution.

  22. The problem is that the antis are winning the PR war when companies pull this crap. Simple as that.

    • Not really. The only people buying that sort of PR were never going to buy a gun anyway.

      I dare say that I don’t think the loft-dwelling, wine-sipping morons in Boulder, the ones who steal their sister’s pants, are going to be supporting the 2A or buying a lot of guns.

  23. With respect, the author is missing the point.

    This is not about losing places to buy guns. These companies should make their decisions based on their bottom line, not politics, and if they had chosen to stop selling MSRs, etc., before the shooting, this wouldn’t be an issue.

    The point is that they chose to make these decisions in the wake of a shooting which is being exploited for political effect by the prohibitionists, and by making these decisions at this time, they are trying to score political points by giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the POTG.

  24. Our local guns shops will get the customers that get rejected by these dopes. I’ll never shop at a “dickless” store again and most of my friends won’t shop there. We just need to stop doing business with anyone that doesn’t support our values. I won’t do business with anyone on the list that cut off support to the NRA. Gun owners have a long memory and will boycott you forever. The gun grabbers lose interest quickly and forget what they were protesting in the first place. The gun grabbing business supporters will lose millions. I just cancelled my NRA brand credit card because the back won’t support the NRA. I rarely used it anyway and I just liked it because it had a gun and the Second Amendment on the card.

  25. Sammy, you missed one crucial point. Ed Stack didn’t make a business decision, he made a political decision. Read his reasons for his unilateral decision. As a political decision we have an obligation to counter his opposition to our civil rights. We already buy very little from his stores and now we get to buy nothing for the very political reasons that he enunciated. And, as a political decision, his actions only serve to feed the east coast, liberal establishment via media outlets sympathetic to his cause. Let’s use Ed as an example and drive him out of the firearms/hunting/fishing business. Let him feed the families of his employees with the sale of kayaks and running shoes.

  26. I’ve never bought a gun, ammo or even accessories at Dick’s or Walmart. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t push back against their foolish and pointless anti-gun policies. There’s a culture war on, and as the late Andrew Breitbart pointed out, politics is downstream from culture. And that makes this a war we can’t afford to lose.

  27. At least someone is being sensible here. Every firearm I own was purchased at a small town LGS about 54 miles away. There’s nothing available at big box stores that I can’t get there (except for that AR-50 they keep on the top display). I’d rather take the hour-ish drive to get the great selection, customer service, and conversation there than drive a mile down the street to a minimum-wage paying chain store.

  28. Who cares! There are PLENTY of places to buy those firearms and related accessories they are declining to carry in inventory.
    I buy my big bullet clip things online anyway. I recently bought a Circle 10 big bullet holder 40 thing from K-Var.

    I’m not getting butt-hurt over financial maneuvering by Wally World, Dicks or anyone else. Obviously the meager overall profit isn’t worth the negativity they would incur should another unspeakable tragedy occur and their company was the supplier of the weapon used. I can’t and don’t blame them. Negativity can have significant financial repercussions and certainly not in line with the meager profits those weapons support.

  29. I think the author is correct. Giving the anti-natural rights crowd this victory, this inch, won’t lead to them wanting and demanding more. That’s just silly talk. We all know that the anti-natural rights crowd are faithful opposition and don’t want to take any of our weapons away, or make any of them illegal.

    The author is correct. Give them that inch.

    • And, always trust them when they say that you just need to register whatever guns and magazines they currently don’t like and you’ll be able to keep them, because they would never, ever, change their mind later, ban them, and use the registration list to enforce the ban. Couldn’t happen.

  30. There was a time when I was a straight ‘economic liberty’ conservative and would have 100% agreed with the author that Dick’s has the right to sell or not sell whatever it wanted to. And I guess I still agree that they can conduct business however they want to.

    But I’ve changed subtly as the culture war has intensified.

    When the Left is in political power, bakers can’t choose who to bake cakes for or not, but when the Right is in political power, we’re supposed to just let leftist companies undertake political campaigns disguised as commerce? Well, maybe. Maybe not.

    At this point, I would have zero problems if the executives at Dick’s, Walmart, Delta, Hertz, Enterprise/National, etc. suddenly started to see their tax returns being audited every year, their warehouses constantly examined in surprise inspections to ensure OSHA compliance, their M&A deals scrutinized with an extra-fine careful eye, and their store expansion plans really examined as to environmental and traffic impact.

    In a culture war, it’s silly to think that politics and economics do not affect culture. Maybe it’s time to think about bringing some political pressure to bear on the culture and economics that support the anti-freedom side of things. Think Georgia and its retribution against Delta for what Delta did.

    Once, that would have offended me as a free market conservative. No longer. As Kurt Schlichter has said time and again, make them regret living under their new rules.

  31. Not one more inch given to the gun control fanatics. Not one. That’s what I care about. If big box stores gets our side riled up and helps organize us to prevent crappy political bandaid solutions…good. We already have more rules, regs, and stupid hoops to jump through for a RIGHT.

  32. Dicks has every right to run their business as they see fit. I don’t have to agree or shop there

  33. ” It’s just that some of their locations — the Field & Stream stores — happen to have a gun counter.”

    Dick’s regular stores also sell guns, at least both in my area do.

  34. Dick’s can do what they want, I don’t care. I haven’t shopped there since 2012. What really makes me want to see them fail is the sheer hypocrisy of their business. After Sandy Hook they stopped selling AR-15’s, abruptly to the point of even cancelling open Black Friday orders that had not been filled. They did all the same virtue signalling they are doing now.

    I get what you are saying about guns being a small part of Dick’s sales, but the Field & Stream stores opened after their last virtue signalling self imposed ban. If this was a truly heartfelt message they were trying to send back in 2012 as well as now, then why did the Field & Stream front ever sell AR-15’s in the first place?

    When all the dust settles, will they open yet another new front to try to sell black rifles on the unsuspecting public and those with short memories?

  36. How long do you give Field and Stream before they close?
    What is the point if they are going to sell the same products as Dicks, (minus the Soccer balls).
    The Cary NC Field and Stream store closed last year. The Fayetteville Field and Stream is next to Dicks.

  37. I am just curious if anyone has discussed the legalities of this move? With no no law on the books how is this not age discrimination?

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