US retail giants lead charge on gun reform as congress dithers

Corporate America is leading the charge for gun reform in the face of a paralysed congress.

US retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods has banned the sale of assault weapons and will not sell any gun to anyone under 21. Picture: AFP

Corporate America is leading the charge for gun reform in the face of a paralysed congress after the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, banned the sale of guns to people under 21.

Kroger Co. has become the third major retailer to announce it would stop selling guns to anyone under 21 in the aftermath of the February 14 shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 17 people dead and provoked a student-led protest movement across the US that transformed debate over gun-control reform.

The US’s largest supermarket chain said it would raise the minimum age to purchase arms and ammunition in all of its Fred Meyer stores.

Another giant US retailer, Dick’s Sporting Goods, yesterday banned the sale of assault weapons and will not sell any gun to anyone under 21 while Walmart banned the sale of assault weapons in 2015 but will now stop selling any gun that resembles an assault rifle.

More than a dozen big US firms, such as Delta and United airlines, and rental car companies have cut their links to the powerful National Rifle Association, a move the gun lobby has labelled “a shameful display of political and civic cowardice”.

Donald Trump yesterday upped the pressure on the NRA.

 

In an extraordinary move from a pro-NRA Republican President, Mr Trump said congress members feared even the smallest step towards gun control.

“Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can’t be petrified. You can’t be petrified,” he told a meeting of congress members.

“They have great power over you people; they have less power over me.”

He called for both sides of congress to create a “strong, strong bill” to end mass shootings. Mr Trump said congress needed to debate raising the age limits for gun ownership, boosting background checks, tackling mental health and even banning assault rifles such as the AR-15 used in Parkland, Florida, last month.

 

“We want to pass something great, and to me the something great has to be where we prevent it from happening again,” Mr Trump said.

Despite the national outcry on gun control after the Florida massacre, Republicans have baulked at anything more than minor proposals on gun reform.

Walmart’s decision to lift the minimum age to purchase a weapon to 21 “in light of recent events” will shake the NRA because of the retailer’s size and name recognition.

“We take seriously our obligation to be a responsible seller of firearms and go beyond federal law by requiring customers to pass a background check before purchasing any firearm,” the company said. Walmart has almost 4000 stores across the US, of which half sell guns. Walmart US is run by the New Zealand-born former Australian Woolworths supermarket boss Greg Foran, father of NRL player Kieran Foran.

 

Earlier yesterday, Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has about 800 stores across 47 US states, said it would stop selling assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, and raise the minimum age it requires to buy a gun to 21. “When we saw what happened in Parkland, we were so disturbed and upset,” said the company’s founder Edward Stack, 63.

“We love these kids and their rallying cry, ‘Enough is enough.’ It got to us.’’

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America said: “This is the moment when business leaders across the country get to decide if they want to stand on the right side of history. Mothers make the ­majority of spending decisions for their families, and we want to shop with businesses that care about the safety of our families — making this a smart business move, too.”

While the retailers’ move will have a powerful symbolic effect, it will still be relatively easy for young Americans to buy guns online or through gun shows.

Mr Trump’s surprising confrontation with members of congress left key Republicans won­dering if it amounted to a fun­damental shift from the President.

Yesterday in a discussion with Republican senator Pat Toomey, Mr Trump asked if his plan for ­expanded background checks ­included a proposal in lift the minimum age to buy an assault weapon.

When Senator Toomey said it did not, Mr Trump replied: “You know why? Because you’re afraid of the NRA.”

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News