Dick's Sporting Goods And Field & Stream Restricting Gun Sales

HOOVER, AL - Dick's Sporting Goods, the nation's largest sporting goods retailer, will no longer sell firearms to anyone under the age of 21 and is stopping the sale of high capacity magazines, the company said Wednesday. The company also is halting sales of assault-style weapons, like the one used in the Parkland high school shooting, at its outdoor and hunting Field & Stream stores. There are three Dick's stores in the Birmingham area - Hoover, Brook Highland and Alabaster - and one Field & Stream store in Hoover's Patton Creek.

"We support and respect the Second Amendment, and we recognize and appreciate that the vast majority of gun owners in this country are responsible, law-abiding citizens," Edward Stack, Dick's chairman and CEO said in a statement. "But we have to help solve the problem that's in front of us. Gun violence is an epidemic that's taking the lives of too many people, including the brightest hope for the future of America – our kids."

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012, Dick's removed assault-style rifles from its main retail stores, but a few months later, the company began carrying the firearms at its Field & Stream stores. Stack acknowledged that Dick's in November legally sold a shotgun to accused Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.

"It was not the gun, nor type of gun, he used in the shooting," Stack said. "But it could have been."

Following the Parkland massacre in which 17 people died, survivors of the shooting have successfully lobbied more than a dozen companies - including Hertz, Delta and United - to sever ties with the National Rifle Association. They also have pushed strongly for stricter gun control regulation.

(For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Birmingham Patch morning newsletter.)

Dick's called on elected officials to enact what it termed "common sense gun reform" and ban assault-style firearms; raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21; ban high-capacity magazines and bump stocks and require universal background checks that include relevant mental health information and previous interactions with the law.

"Some will say these steps can't guarantee tragedies like Parkland will never happen again. They may be correct," Stack said. "But if common sense reform is enacted and even one life is saved, it will have been worth it. "

Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images