Walmart and Dick’s are Just Making the Problem Worse

On Wednesday, Walmart decided that it had better respond to all of its elitist, coastal liberal customers and take a stand against guns. Because where would the Arkansas-based retail giant be if it weren’t for its major franchises in downtown Manhattan, Martha’s Vineyard, and Berkeley, California? You have to keep those Democrats happy!

Alas, we may argue that Walmart has a strange view of their customer demographic, but then again, they’re Walmart. Everyone is basically their demographic at this point. And if they want to stop selling guns and ammunition to people under the age of 21, that’s their business. There’s nothing in the Second Amendment that says a retailer has to sell a gun to everyone who walks in the door, obviously. We would frankly rather see corporate America enact “gun control” than Washington. After all, Walmart’s loss will just be another seller’s gain.

On the other hand, that’s exactly part of the problem when major retailers like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods decide to limit what guns they sell and to whom they will sell them. Those sales don’t just disappear, after all. AR15s are still going to be sold, whether or not people get them from Dick’s or Walmart. We would probably be better off and safer as a nation if people were getting their guns from reputable retail stores that will dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s.

We’re not saying that you can’t trust the local gun store/pawn shop/gun show dealer to follow the law, but the chances of a gun getting into the wrong hands through those outlets is at least a “little” greater than at a place like Walmart, where the aren’t going to mess around when it comes to the law.

On another note, while this doesn’t mean that Walmart and Dick’s HAVE TO keep selling guns, it’s probably beneficial to our political power if they were going to. These are major retailers with big money to spend. If they’re no longer going to be in the business of selling firearms (or, at least, severely curtailing that business), they’re no longer going to be all that interested in defending Second Amendment legislation. From a purely political point of view, that could matter going forward.

Oh, by the way, we’re really amused that Walmart is going to stop selling airsoft rifles and toy guns that resemble AR15s. That’s some top-shelf pandering right there.