Dick's Sporting Goods: Minnesotans Under 21 Can't Buy Guns

Dick's Sporting Goods will no longer sell firearms to anyone under the age of 21 and is stopping the sale of high capacity magazines nationwide, the company announced Wednesday.

Dick's will also end sales of assault-style weapons — like the one used in the Parkland, Florida high school shooting — at its Field & Stream locations. Standard Dick's stores, including the 10 locations in Minnesota, stopped selling assault-style weapons in 2012 following the Sandy Hook school shooting.

"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."

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 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.

Beginning Wednesday, Dicks’s Sporting Goods will:

• No longer sell assault-style rifles, also referred to as modern sporting rifles.
• No longer sell firearms to anyone under 21 years of age.
• No longer sell high capacity magazines.

"We never have and never will sell bump stocks that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly," said Stack.

Dicks’s asked elected officials to enact "common sense gun reform" and pass the following regulations:

• Ban assault-style firearms
• Raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21
• Ban high capacity magazines and bump stocks
• Require universal background checks that include relevant mental health information and previous interactions with the law
• Ensure a complete universal database of those banned from buying firearms
• Close the private sale and gun show loophole that waives the necessity of background checks

"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 by Scott Olson/Getty Images