Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack told HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that his company banned AR-15 sales knowing the move would cost them “$150-$250 million” in sales.
On March 31, 2019, Breitbart News reported that Dick’s had in fact lost at least $150 million in sales following their gun ban, yet Stack believed the implementation of corporate gun control was worth it. He said, “It’s important that when you know there’s something that’s not working, and it’s to the detriment of the public, you have to stand up.”
As Newsbusters reports, Stack used his HBO appearance to reinforce the position that he has no regrets for enacting the AR-15 sales ban, even if losses reach $250 million.
Stack said, “This rifle has its genesis in war, and people can say that it’s been modified and it hasn’t been. But the origins of this gun, primary reason, was to kill. We thought it would impact our sales, ya know, $150 to $250 million.” He then intimated that the decision to sell AR-15s in the first place is one of his greatest business regrets, saying, “I don’t have too many regrets in my life and my business career, but that is one of them. I wish we had never done it.”
Dick’s banned the sales of AR-15s following the February 14, 2018, attack on the Parkland high school. They also banned the sale of “high capacity” magazines and raised the minimum age for rifle purchases to 21, although federal law permits purchases at age 18.
While Dick’s, Stack, and others single out the AR-15 in reaction to mass public attacks, a Rockefeller Institute of Government study examining 50 years found that handguns were mass shooters weapon of choice.
Rockefeller IG examined a 50 year window of time, 1966-2016, during which they determined a total of 340 mass shootings occurred in the U.S. They discovered that handguns were far and away the number one choice for mass shooters. Handguns were used 75.6 percent of the time, rifles 28.5 percent of the time, and shotguns 17.1 percent of the time. (The total percentage of these numbers exceeds 100 because of instances where more than one weapon was used.)
It must be noted that the 28.5 percent of rifles used in mass shooters include all kinds of rifles, not just AR-15s or similar firearms. Therefore, the percentage of mass shootings in which AR-15s were used during the 50-year time frame would be even less than 28.5.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.