Major Gun Companies Are Refusing to Do Business With Dick’s Sporting Goods

When the national retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods announced earlier this year that it would stop selling assault-style weapons and raise its gun-purchasing age to 21, CEO Edward Stack made sure people knew he was still a supporter of the Second Amendment. While his decision was a response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, he also told Good Morning America that he was a gun owner himself and that he honored America’s right to own guns; in the company’s statement, he pointed out that the “the vast majority of gun owners in this country are responsible, law-abiding citizens.”

Recent moves from Dick’s, though, has the gun community doubting where the company’s, and Stack’s, loyalties truly lie. Last week, federal documents came to light revealing that Dick’s had hired three Beltway lobbyists to lobby for gun control in Congress, a move that officially began at the end of April. Dick’s also shared last month that it would destroy the weapons it will no longer sell — a strong statement about its attitude toward this inventory.

As a response, vendors are gradually backing away from the Pennsylvania-based retailer. Yesterday, the parent company of Mossberg guns, O.F. Mossberg & Sons Inc., announced in a press release that it would no longer do business with Dick’s. It was not diplomatic about the reason for this decision either.

“It has come to our attention that Dick’s Sporting Goods recently hired lobbyists on Capitol Hill to promote additional gun control,” CEO Iver Mossberg wrote. “Make no mistake, Mossberg is a staunch supporter of the U.S. Constitution and our Second Amendment rights, and we fully disagree with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent anti-Second Amendment actions.”

In its release, Mossberg urges shoppers to “visit one of the thousands of pro-Second Amendment firearm retailers to make their purchases” — a real jab at Dick’s position on gun control.

Two days ago, MKS Supply, which makes Hi-Point Firearms, also announced it would no longer do business with Dick’s. In a statement, MKS wrote that it “values the customers that it proudly serves and the God-given freedoms that they enjoy” and that it believes it’s “equally important to show our commitment to our customers by standing behind their Second Amendment rights.”

“In recent months, Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary, Field & Stream, have shown themselves, in our opinion, to be no friend of Americans’ Second Amendment,” MKS Supply president Charles Brown wrote. He continued:

We believe that refusing to sell long guns to adults under age 21, while many young adults in our military are not similarly restricted, is wrong. We believe that villainizing modern sporting rifles in response to pressure from uninformed, anti-gun voices is wrong. We believe that hiring lobbyists to oppose American citizens’ freedoms secured by the Second Amendment is wrong. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Field & Stream, in purportedly doing all of these things, have demonstrated that they do not share our values. [We’re] standing by the American people by refusing any further sales to Dick’s Sporting Goods & Field & Stream.

Springfield Armory, another gun manufacturer, also dropped Dick’s last week, writing on its Facebook page that the decision was because the retailer had hired lobbyists but also citing Dick’s decision to destroy the firearms it wasn’t selling and raise its gun-purchasing age.

Springfield Armory® Severs Ties with Dick’s Sporting Goods Springfield Armory announces its decision in response to... Posted by Springfield Armory on Thursday, May 3, 2018

Trade and advocacy groups have already shown where they stand too. The National Rifle Association tweeted that Dick’s was “punishing law-abiding citizens.”

.@DICKS decision isn’t focusing on the actual problem, what it is doing is punishing law-abiding citizens. What a waste, and what a strange business model. #DefendTheSecond #2A #NRA https://t.co/mUNmV6O1ot — NRA (@NRA) April 17, 2018

Last week, the National Shooting Sports Foundation announced it would revoke Dick’s membership. In February, it said it was “disappointed” by Dick’s decision to stop selling assault-style weapons and raising the purchasing age to 21. This time around, it’s distancing itself completely from Dick’s because of “conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation.”

Mossberg and Springfield are some of the most powerful firearms companies, and the NSSF is the country’s largest gun trade association. Now there’s speculation that it’s only a matter of time before companies like Remington, Ruger, and Colt stop doing business with Dick’s too.

In March, Stack, Dick’s CEO, said on an earnings call that he expects “there are going to be the people who don’t shop us anymore for anything.” But it’s unclear if the company wanted such a drastic fallout with its gun vendors. (Racked reached out to Dick’s for comment and did not receive a response.)

Seeing as the gun industry is painting it as an enemy of the Second Amendment, Dick’s is now in danger of losing a large part of its gun business, which could hurt its bottom line.

On the flip side, only 10 percent of Dick’s annual $7.9 billion come from gun sales, according to the investment firm Wedbush Securities. And a recent analysis on shopping has found that liberal shoppers are more likely to stand behind, and shop with, companies that are politically active (and that have similar values, of course).

In the months since Dick’s changed in its gun sale policies following the Parkland shooting, traffic in stores has increased, and Stack told analysts in March that the company has seen an “outpouring of support.” It might have made enemies with staunch gun rights supporters, but in a time when everything from clothes to sneakers to Skittles has become politicized, Dick’s has become the face of gun control, and there’s no turning back.