Based on social media reaction yesterday, the CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods should be preparing his Nobel Peace Prize after announcing the stores would no longer sell AR-15s. What I found most interesting to that public reaction is that the same people that celebrating Dick’s decision to not sell a legal product are the same people that attack healthcare providers that don’t perform abortions, pharmacists that won’t sell birth control and churches that won’t hold same-sex weddings.
I’m not even sure how many AR-15s Dick’s actually sold every year. The few times I’ve gone past their hunting section, their selection seemed to be more hunting rifles and shotguns and not that many sport shooting rifles. The decision not to sell AR-15s will likely cost them as much business as a decision not to sell Pink Lady golf balls anymore.
It should also be noted that the Florida school shooter did not buy his gun at Dick’s. Nor did he buy it at a gun show or from a private seller–the two “background check loopholes” that Democrats are demanding be “closed” in the wake of every shooting. And the Las Vegas, San Bernadino, Orlando nightclub and Sandy Hook shooters didn’t get their guns there either–so it’s not like a “major pipeline” is being shut down.
Gun control advocates may actually want Dick’s to continue to sell sport shooting rifles. They would be considered a “reputable firearms dealer”. You know that every person trying to buy a gun at Dick’s is subjected to a required background check–because they have a national reputation to uphold. What’s more, you never hear about people breaking into Dick’s to steal dozens of guns–because their stores feature advanced security systems–keeping more illegal weapons off the streets.
The only thing that Dick’s and other retailers deciding to stop AR-15’s or to raise the age for buying a gun to 21 will do is drive buyers to different outlets–all of whom will be more than happy to get the additional business. As we have seen for decades now, any talk of increased gun control or outright bans on weapons produces a buying frenzy–as shooters want to stock up before no stores can carry a weapon anymore. There are tens of thousands of small gun stores around the country that feature many hard-core gun-rights owners who will sell you any legal weapon you want–in any quantity they can get in.
As retail gun-purchase options tighten, that will also drive more buyers into the less-regulated secondary market. When Dick’s stops selling AR-15’s, those who want one can go to the myriad gun shows across the country and pick up a used one–in some cases not having to pass a background check. Or they will find someone a couple of counties over selling one on the internet no questions asked.
So everyone can laud Dick’s and Walmart and any other retailers looking to jump on the “we won’t sell these guns” public relations bandwagon all you want–but they aren’t “making America safer” by one iota.
