Only hours after Dick’s Sporting Goods said it would entirely remove assault-style rifles from its stores, Walmart has announced that it will stop selling guns and ammunition to customers under 21 years of old and begin removing all toys resembling assault-style weapons. The New York Times reports that the massive chain came to the decision after reviewing its attitude toward firearms “in light of recent events,” or the deadly Feb. 14 shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
While Dick’s Sporting Goods will work to completely remove powerful weapons from its shelves, Walmart has only decided to raise its age requirement to buy firearms from 18 to 21 years old. The store’s decision to avoid a complete ban is due to the company’s overall mission in serving a particular brand of customers.
Building on our 2015 decision to not sell modern sporting rifles, we announced important changes today:
– Raising the age for purchase of firearms and ammunition from 18 to 21 years old
– Removing online items resembling assault-style riflesSee details https://t.co/K7wnc0XEwK
— Walmart (@Walmart) February 28, 2018
“Our heritage as a company has always been in serving sportsmen and hunters, and we will continue to do so in a responsible way,” the chain explained in a statement. “We take seriously our obligation to be a responsible seller or firearms and go beyond Federal law by requiring customers to pass a background check before purchasing any firearm.”
In the statement, Walmart also clarified that its stores stopped selling AR-15 assault rifles in 2015. It also doesn’t sell handguns (except in Alaska stores), bump stocks or high-capacity magazines. The items geared toward children that are set to be removed from stock include “nonlethal airsoft guns and toys.”
Being the largest retailer in the United States, Walmart has now set a high precedence for any chains that carry similar items.