Mar 2, 2018 4 min read

The announcement Wednesday that Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods would no longer stock assault-style rifles at its Field & Stream or sell high-capacity magazines companywide sent a shock wave through the heart of the gun control debate.

Dick’s had already discontinued sales of the weapon – referred benignly as a “modern sporting rifle” – in its main stores following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 young students and six teachers and administrators in 2012. So deciding to ban sales of the weapon, which was used in a similar school shooting last month in Parkland, Fla., at its Field & Stream stores geared toward hunters was a more drastic step for the company.

The company also announced it would no longer sell firearms to customers under 21. The accused Parkland shooter is 19.

These decisions alone would have placed Dick’s in the gun control debate. But then the company went even further to put it in the bull’s-eye of the discussion.

In a stinging statement directed at Congress, the company implored elected leaders to follow its lead by beginning to work on major legislation to ban sales nationally of assault rifles, bump stocks and high-capacity magazines. It also is asking Congress to overhaul the country’s background check system and deny purchases to people younger than 21.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the victims and their loved ones,” Dick’s wrote in a statement Wednesday, two weeks after the Parkland massacre. “But thoughts and prayers are not enough. We have tremendous respect and admiration for the students organizing and making their voices heard regarding gun violence in schools and elsewhere in our country.

“We have heard you. The nation has heard you.”

It took brave Parkland students to wake us from an inexcusable slumber on gun control measures.

This, despite the country suffering through one mass shooting after another in recent years, with the death toll rising to unfathomable heights none of us ever could have imagined. And then it happens again. And again.

Parkland in 2018 – 17 dead

Las Vegas in 2017 – 58 dead

Sutherland Springs in 2017 – 26 dead

Orlando in 2016 – 49 dead

San Bernardino in 2015 – 14 dead

Newtown in 2012- 27 dead

Six of the 10 deadliest shootings in modern American history have occurred in the past five years. All were carried out with some version of an AR-15 assault-style rifle designed solely to inflict massive casualties. No deer hunter needs this type of weapon.

The profound political statement from Dick’s Sporting Goods makes that abundantly clear.

Of course, Dick’s is a privately held company that must make the best decisions for the bottom line. It’s unknown whether other major store chains will follow its lead. Walmart banned sales of high-powered rifles in 2015, although that was viewed more as a business decision after years of weak demand.

In addition, dozens of companies have ended their business relationships with the National Rifle Association. Those companies already have felt blowback – just as Dick’s Sporting Goods will undoubtedly experience in the coming days and weeks – but they obviously feel the benefit distancing themselves from these organizations and weapons is worth the financial risk.

Meanwhile, other stores will continue to stock the assault-style and high-capacity magazines. These weapons aren’t going away anytime soon.

Dick’s acknowledges the passionate emotions evoked by the Second Amendment, including those felt by many of its customers.

“But we have to help solve the problem that’s in front of us,” the company said. “Gun violence is an epidemic that’s taking the lives of too many people, including the brightest hope for the future of America – our kids.”

If a company such as Dick’s, which relies so heavily on outdoorsmen and sportsmen for a good portion of its sales, can make such a bold and potentially controversial decision, why can’t the rest of the country come together to even begin a discussion about guns?

A serious reckoning about what is happening in our country is long overdue. The Parkland kids jump-started the discussion and many private companies are continuing it. It’s now up to all of us – by holding our elected leaders accountable – to find solutions.