Store chain Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) made waves in stock markets, and in American society at large, Wednesday, with its decision to cut back on the sale of certain firearms.
The decision includes ending sales of assault-style rifles and banning the sale of guns to people younger than 21.
CEO Edward Stack told an interviewer, "Based on what’s happened and looking at those kids and those parents, it moved us all unimaginably," referring to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 14 students and three educators.
"To think about the loss and the grief that those kids and those parents had, we said, 'We need to do something,'" Stack, whose father, Dick, started the business 70 years ago, explained. "And we’re taking these guns out of all of our stores permanently."
The move follows the revelation that Nikolas Cruz, the alleged gunman behind the shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, bought a gun at Dick's in 2017. It was not, however, the gun nor the kind of gun used in the massacre.
The new measures go into effect today. Aside from Dick's, the Pittsburgh-based, publicly traded company also operates stores under the Gold Galaxy, Field & Stream, True Runner and Chelsea Collective banners.
Dick's announced a temporary suspension of assault-style rifles from its stores after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26 elementary school students and educators.
Dick’s shares remained positive 30 cents to $32.10 in the last hour of trade Wednesday.
