So Walmart and Dicks in the wake of the recent shooting in Florida have decided to discontinue the sale of Modern Sporting Rifles and make all firearms sales to 21+, same with LL Bean.
Well Beans has never sold anything as “Modern” as an AR-15 (designed in 1959, but I guess that’s “Modern”), and really they make their bones selling Woman’s Clothing, so ANY action to their gun department, even up to axing the whole thing, won’t make a dent in business.
Dick’s and Walmart are even sillier. Dick’s decided that modern guns were evil and wouldn’t sell them anymore after Sandy Hook, but I guess after all that sturm and drang, they quietly restocked the shelves with the guns Americans ACTUALLY want.
I’m not sure about Wal-Mart, but they too started stocking ARs, and then dumped them. I do know that when buying ammo Wal-Mart asks you if you are buying for a Pistol or a Rifle, and if that box of .22 is for a revolver, and not a carbine, suddenly you need to be 21. Either way this doesn’t change much, but I bet they feel GREAT about it.
And likely once the dust settles they’ll bring the guns back quietly, and pretend nothing happened.
I won’t know because I hate all of them, and have since long before any of that shit started. Circa 2000 I was in the Maine Mall doing other things, but I knew I would be going shooting in the next few days with a buddy who owned guns (I didn’t own a single gun at the time) and I thought I’d buy a few boxes of .45 at Dicks so I could get my 1911 on in a sand pit.
I went to the gun counter and found it deserted. I looked around a little bit, and waited, and waited….and finally I left. They didn’t want my business, So I didn’t give it to them. Wal-Mart is similar, generally you get to the gun counter and everything is locked up, and you need to wait for a sales associate who knows that selling guns isn’t the same as selling a folding camp chair, or even a Six-pack of cold beer, but he doesn’t know HOW it’s different, and he’ll make you regret buying that box of 9mm the WHOLE time.
LL Bean, I’ve been to their gun counter….and found it is NOT for me, no plinking ammo, no handguns, no modern rifles. No issue, just I’m not your base.
So yeah, good on them, they’re big fucking heroes.
” asks you if you are buying for a Pistol or a Rifle, and if that box of .22 is for a revolver, and not a carbine, suddenly you need to be 21. ”
That is federal law, nonsensical as it may be.
It’s my understanding that Walmart gave up on selling AR-15s when they tried to join the bandwagon of everyone selling them because they were getting popular…but they tried to get on at a peak of interest, and were thus burned.
For me, when it comes to buying firearm related stuff in general, though, “Walmart” isn’t the first store that comes to mind…
Also like all the big-box stores and all kinds of durable goods, the big stores are big enough to get exclusive lines. So just like how that Toro Lawn Mower you bought at Home Depot will be full of cheap junk you won’t find at the local independent dealer, the Remington R-15 you buy at Walmart isn’t the same quality of gun you’ll find at your local gun shop….but the price is similar.