Wal-Mart: no more blue-light gun specials
Wal-Mart has announced it's pulling back from the firearms business:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has decided to stop selling guns in about a third of its U.S. stores in what it calls a marketing decision based on lack of demand in some places, a company spokeswoman said Friday.Most people seem happy with the decision, starting with small businesses:
The world's largest retailer decided last month to remove firearms from about 1,000 stores in favor of stocking other sporting goods, in line with a "Store of the Community" strategy for boosting sales by paying closer attention to local differences in demand.
The change could be a boon for mom-and-pop hunting stores that lost business when Wal-Mart moved in, said Steve Wagner, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry.Gun-control advocates hailed the decision as well:
The Violence Policy Center, a gun control group, said Wal-Mart's decision reflected what it called a decline in gun ownership. "The marketplace has spoken and the losers are America's gun industry and the gun lobby," VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann said in a statement.It's all part of the Wal-Mart's efforts to go upscale, trading in the plastic crap and blue collar goods image for wine bars, boutique styling, and cardigan sweaters. My theory: taking a page from Target, they've decided that instead of fighting their middle-class critics, they're going to entice them to start shopping there.
3 Comments:
frankly, as an old conspiracy theorist, i think Wmart is removing the guns from stores in volitile (black, brown, red) pop areas.
I'm dubious of the VPC's claim that gun ownership is declining. From the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action (numbers refer to footnotes):
----------------------
Guns.
The number of privately owned guns in the U.S. is at an all-time high. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) estimates that there were about 215 million guns in 1999,1 when the number of new guns was averaging about 4.5 million (about 2%) annually.2 A report for the National Academy of Sciences put the 1999 figure at 258 million.3 According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 60.4 million approved (new and used) NICS firearm transactions between 1994 2004.4 The number of NICS checks for firearm purchases or permits increased 3.2% between 2003-2004.
Gun Owners.
The number of gun owners is also at an all-time high. The U.S. population is at an all-time high (294 million), and rises about 1% annually.5 Numerous surveys over the last 40+ years have found that almost half of all households have at least one gun owner.6 Some surveys since the late 1990s have indicated a smaller incidence of gun ownership,7 probably because of some respondents` concerns about "gun control," residually due, perhaps, to the anti-gun policies of the Clinton Administration.
Right-to-Carry.
The number of RTC states is at an all-time high, up from 10 in 1987 to 38 today.8 In 2004, states with RTC laws, compared to other states, had lower violent crime rates on average. Total violent crime was lower by 21%, murder by 28%, robbery by 43%, and aggravated assault by 13%.9
----------------------
It's possible, of course, that gun ownership rates population owning guns ( divided by total adult population) are down, but there's no doubt that the total number of guns, gunowners, and citizens with carry permits is higher than ever.
Uh... I think I read between the lines on some of this. I believe, truth be told, that Walmart is tired of the endless litigation involved when somebody legally buys a gun, goes home and blows his brains out, then the family sues.
To some degree, I agree that they may be thinking that location does matter, but I think my offer is the main reason.
Post a Comment
Return to Facing South's main page