HOUSTON, Texas – Texas based Academy Sports and Outdoors has pulled “modern sporting rifles” from the shelves of its more than 200 stores in response to the Islamic terrorist attack in Orlando. The company, headquartered in Houston, is also reported to start requiring personal information from buyers of large quantities of ammunition.
“We got the call from corporate just before close to take the rifles off of display, only after all customers have left for the night. MSR’s are still for sale, but will not be displayed “for about a week or two,” a store manager who wished to remain unnamed told Reddit blogger, “Potato_Muncher.
The move was said to be out of respect for those who were killed and injured in the Islamic terrorist attack in Orlando where the shooter used an AR-15 style rifle to carry out the attack.
Breitbart Texas visited two Academy stores in the Houston area and verified that store employees were directed to take the rifles down from the display shelves. The rifles were stocked in locked racks under the display shelves and were readily available if a customer wanted to look at them or purchase them.
One store employee told Breitbart Texas he did not know if the policy was temporary or if there were any plans to discontinue the sale of the AR-15 style rifles altogether.
Another online firearms website, TheFirearmBlog.com, reported the sporting goods retailer’s store employees were notified to begin gathering personal information on people purchasing more than 10 boxes of “assault rifle caliber” ammunition. The personal information will reportedly be put into a company database.
When asked about this policy by Breitbart Texas, a store manager said he could not comment and referred this writer to the corporate offices for comment.
Breitbart Texas spoke with a customer service representative via the store’s toll free number. That representative contacted a store manager in Houston who said they are not currently taking any personal information for bulk purchases of .223 or .556 caliber ammunition.
A search of the company’s online store by Breitbart Texas revealed the semi-automatic .223 caliber rifles were no longer listed.
The sporting goods retailer is taking other steps as well by removing items that look like the rifles. A store employee told the blogsite that they were told to remove “sporting rifle lighters and other gifts.” Additionally, airsoft and BB guns that look like the AR-15 style rifles will also be pulled from the stores.
Breitbart Texas reached out to the company via email for a response to these reports. No reply was immediately available.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.