The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade association and lobbying arm, has announced that Dick’s Sporting Goods’ decisions to end sales of AR-pattern rifles and lobby Congress for more gun control legislation are “detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation” (not to mention America’s gun owners). As a result, the NSSF has decided to expel Dick’s from the organization. Here’s their announcement . . .

NSSF Expels Dick’s Sporting Goods

The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, Board of Governors today unanimously voted to expel Dick’s Sporting Goods from membership for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation.

Dick’s Sporting Goods recently hired a Washington D.C.-based government affairs firm, for “[l]obbying related to gun control.” Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Edward W. Stack announced earlier this year the retail chain would end sales of modern sporting rifles, voluntarily raise the age to 21 to purchase firearms in their stores and called for more restrictive legislation. Dick’s later announced they would destroy the remaining modern sporting rifle inventory. NSSF responded that business decisions should be individually made, but was nonetheless disappointed and the decision does not reflect the reality of the vast majority of law-abiding gun owners.

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56 COMMENTS

  1. My money spends just as well elsewhere! I will NEVER spend another dime with Dick’s Sporting Goods! I’ve spent a lot of money with them over the years, especially with gift cards for friends or relatives but my money will not be spent in this store anymore. Hope they enjoy losing a LOT of their customer base!!!

    • Most of the time when a company does something so blatantly progressive that I wouldn’t patronize them, it is some place I don’t go anyway. Dick’s however, I have occasionally shopped at. Well, no more shopping at Dick’s for me.

    • So which distributors supply Dick’s (and Field&Stream) with their non-MSR rifles?
      Who do we have to put under the spotlight?

      • Monday evening, for the 1st time, I toured a Field & Stream. A wide variety of manufacturers.

    • Yup. I sent them a note letting them know that we won’t be outfitting our rec soccer teams through them. I’ve bought a lot more soccer, football, baseball, and running gear through them (and camping supplies) than firearms and ammo. They’re the only big box sporting goods place in town, but that’s what online shopping is for.

  2. About time that the industry started fighting back. Curb retailers and boycott sales and support of governments hostile to the products they sell.

    More companies need to follow suit with the actions of Hornady in NY and Barrett in CA.

  3. Good riddance. Here’s hoping former Dick’s customers also “expel” Dick’s Sporting Goods divisions from their list of acceptable sources of hunting, fishing, etc. supplies (I did & feel GREAT doing so; Dick’s did respond to my severing my relationship with the organization with a reply noting, “…hope you’ll reconsider…”. I won’t do so but we did manage to get their attention.

    • I hand delivered a letter in December 2012 to the store manager of my local Dick’s after the company made the decision immediately after the Sandy Hook school shooting to discontinue AR15’s in all their stores. The letter stated my reason for refusing to shop there further and asked them to close my account. I included my Dicks loyalty card, hoping that they would check to see how frequently I bought not just guns and ammo but also clothing, shoes and all types of sporting goods.

      Their decision in 2012 came after they had issued large numbers of rain checks for Troy Defense Carbines discounted $300 over Black Friday weekend. They refused to honor the rain checks leaving thousands of customers in the lurch, not to say what it did to Troy Defense: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/12/daniel-zimmerman/troy-defense-on-dicks-canceling-black-friday-carbine-orders/

      They later rescinded their decision and started stocking Modern Sporting Rifles again, but too late to help those consumers who had hoped for a Merry Christmas 2012. I haven’t shopped in a Dicks since. But have wondered over these years how much their decision was based on an unexpected demand for the advertised special on Black Friday.

      Dicks did start stocking Modern Sporting Rifles in their new Field and Stream stores in August of 2013. I haven’t shopped in Field and Stream stores and won’t. I don’t recall when they went back into their Dicks Sporting Goods stores.

      Dicks actions should come as no surprise based on their previous history. Fool me once…shame on you….Fool me twice? Shame on me. Oh, and I was never contacted by anyone at Dicks after delivering my letter. I continued to receive mail associated with my loyalty card until my replies in the postage free envelopes became more and more profane. It suddenly stopped which was good as I was running out of words and combinations of words to profess my anger with them.

      • “It suddenly stopped which was good as I was running out of words and combinations of words to profess my anger with them.”

        You win the internet today.

      • dicks never did restock msr’s, they specifically opened the field and stream stores to sell off their inventory and still claim a moral superiority of not selling them in their namesake stores.

  5. They only destroyed their AR-15’s but if they wanna show off they should have done that with all firearms in their inventory, literally everything that can shoot a bullet, air gun too.
    Once done, they should follow the UK trend and impose restrictions on knife sale and absolutely ban all baseball bats since they could crash skulls (on their own). All these items are enemies of human kind and operate on their own. Humans don’t kill other humans, guns do, knives do, baseball bats do, sharpened sticks do. Gosh, Dick’s Sporting Goods have a lot of work to do to protect humanity…

  6. Without firearms and like outdoor products (archery, hunting, fishing) to differentiate themselves, they can join the dustbins of corporate history like Sports Authority, Sports Chalet, Golfsmith, etc.

    • My town used to have a Sports Authority. Its gun counter was, at best, perfunctory, hidden in the back corner of the store behind shelves of camping gear, fishing rods, and kayaks. There was never anyone at the counter. Funny, the Dick’s we have now is almost exactly the same….

    • Near where I live, we have a very unlucky building. It started life as a Circuit City, but then they went out and the place sat vacant for a while. Then, Golfsmith moved in, for a while, then they went out. Now, some other golf company is moving in, but I can’t help but think the building is cursed.

    • Corporate idiots getting decimated by Amazon and so what do they do…..unilaterally stop selling one of the few things that Amazon DOESN’T sell.

      Just brilliant!

  7. Corporate virtue signaling in the Eric Holder way ….. ‘ Make all guns + gun owners social outcasts ‘. —– Dehumanize the ‘ enemy ‘ so you can marginalize and abuse them even easier.

  9. A large rather costly inventory just going to waste. I’m honestly expecting to hear about some of those rifles turning up a crime scene or some captured cartel armory.

    • Considering recent behavior I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they ‘disposed’ of their inventory by offloading it into an inner-city alley somewhere and looking the other way for 2-3 days.

  12. Sure I’ll botcott Dick’s. Been in one mebbe 4 times. Pathetic customer service trumps everything. Couldn’t find anyone to wait on me twice. EFF them…

  13. List of companies that have dropped NRA, made Anti 2A statement and/or policies. The list may not be complete.
    Avis
    Bank of America Corporation
    Bayer
    Best Western hotel group
    Budget Rent A Car
    ChaseAllied Van Lines
    Chili’s (Brinker Int’l)
    Chubb Insurance
    Citi Group
    Claritin (BayerAG/BayerUS)
    Clorox
    Delta Airlines
    Dick’s Sporting Goods, which owns Golf Galaxy, Field and Stream stores, Blue Sombrero
    Dove
    Downey (P&G)
    Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise, Alamo, National)
    Expedia
    FaceBook
    First National Bank of Omaha
    Fred Meyer Stores
    Gerber
    Google
    Hertz
    HomeAdvisor
    Honda
    Hulu
    Jenny Craig
    Johnson & Johnson (Stelara)
    Jos. A. Bank
    Kroger also owns Smith’s, Fred Meyer’s, City Market, Littman Jewelry, Dillions, Baker’s Fresh/Grocery, Fry’s Food Store, Ralph’s, Waffle house
    Liberty Mutual Insurance
    Metlife
    Miracle-Ear
    Nestle
    NetFlix
    NFL
    Nutrish (Rachel Ray Pet Food)
    Nutro Dog Food (Mars)
    Office Depot
    Oreo (Mondelez)
    Pampers (P&G)
    Paramout RX
    Principal
    Proctor & Gamble
    Progressive Insurance
    Reddit (social platform)
    Republic Bank
    SafeLite
    SimpliSafe, Allied and North American are moving-van lines owned by Sirva
    Starkey Health Technologies(hearing aids)
    Stitch Fix
    Symantec, which produces Norton anti-virus software and owns LifeLock,
    Trident (Mars)
    TripAdvisor
    Trivago
    TrueCar
    United Airlines
    Wayfair
    Wells Fargo Corporation
    Wyndham Hotel Group
    YETI
    YouTube

    • I have a First Bankcard “NRA” Visa. Used it just today in fact to buy a gun.

    • You missed these…

      REI
      Mountain Equipment
      Kelloggs
      Target
      LL Bean
      Allied Van Lines
      North American Van Lines
      Aetna
      Lyft
      Box

    • At this point, I’d only worry about companies that actually do something against the gun community. Words are cheap and positions can change like the wind. Besides, that’s an awfully long list, and I personally can’t boycott them all.

    • You have Wells Fargo on your list.
      Do you have an information on this?
      The only thing that I have heard is that Wells Fargo refused to be pressured into joining BofA into refusing to do business with gun manufactures.
      And that the Teachers Union dropped them because they wouldn’t cut ties with the NRA
      I know they had employees opening up credit cards for some who banked with Wells Fargo without their knowledge.
      But as a company, they are the leading bank for gun companies. $431 Mill since Dec 2012
      Almost twice as much as BofA
      And about $100 Mill more than the 2nd place bank.
      I ask as I am looking to replace my Bof A
      I was going to Wells Fargo based on what I know.

    • Bank of America owns Merrill Lynch. Pulling accounts from ML will get some attention. You’d do better with an independent advisor, anyway!

  14. It feels good that Dick’s “may” suffer for their choices, but let’s face it, Dick’s is the low hanging fruit (double entendre intended) that is easy for us to not patronize and the NSSF to stand up to. There needs to be more manufacturers and organizations that stand up to all anti gun organizations, legislation, spokes mouths, and politicians. We are the majority, we need to start acting like it.

  15. Dicks needs to be kicked in another spot,located close to their namesake because they have proven no use for their gonads.

  16. The few times that I have been in a Dickhead gun department, the selection was not worth a dick. Prices were redickulous. I never shopped there anyways.

  17. I hope Dick’s leadership looks back on the day they hired an anti-gun lobbyist as the beginning of the end.

  18. I walked into a Dick’s one day for a self healing target ball. They had a very limited shooting section, more like a corner, in an otherwise massive two story building. Customer service was downright rude, answering my question with a simple “No” after which, they continued stocking their shelf. At the time I thought it was just that location, but now I see it’s all locations. They will soon learn that the gun community does not forgive such actions.

  19. I live 3 minutes away from dicks, nearest cabelas is an hour away and I’ll gladly make the drive. NEVER again spend a dollar at dicks

  20. It is a federal crime for a group of 2 or more individuals to conspire to deprive a person or persons of their rights with a usual maximum sentence of 10 years but certain circumstances including death resulting from said conspiracy than a life sentence or death sentence could apply. For example if numerous deaths of minorities are tied directly to their conspiracy then the conspirators could potentially face the death penalty.

    • So, are you saying that Dick’s committed a Federal crime by conspiring to deprive 18 to 20-year-olds of their rights? Good point!

      P.S.: A much better title for this article would be, “NSSF Slaps Dicks” or “NSSF Bites Dicks.”

  21. If the gun industry was smart about it they would each take turns severing ties with Dickless, say every 30 days or so. That way it continually reminds them by throwing fresh salt into the wound, and it keeps it in the news cycle and on people’s minds.

    • Excellent plan, so how do we get companies to implement it? We also need to find a way to highlight how much $$$ business those Dick’s have lost…..

Comments are closed.