Walmart Plans to Halt Sales of AR-Type Rifles

Still image from 247 OutDoor Addiction YouTube video.

The days of black rifles at Walmart are over apparently. Walmart plans to halt sales of AR-platform rifles and other mag-fed semi-automatic rifles (as well as certain semi-auto shotguns with capacities of 7+ rounds). Currently, AR-15s and other “modern sporting rifles” are sold in roughly one third of the company’s 4,600 U.S. stores. Walmart is the USA’s largest vendor of rifles and ammo, so this is a significant policy change that will impact sportsmen across the country.

Walmart says that its decision to stop selling semi-auto rifles is prompted by reduced demand for AR-type rifles, rather than by political pressures. Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg told Bloomberg Business, “If you have a product customers aren’t buying, you phase it out,” he said. Shoppers “were buying shotguns and rifles, and so we are increasing assortment in that.” Lundberg stated that Walmart would sell down its remaining AR inventory to zero as stores transition from summer to fall merchandise. (Source: CTD Shooter’s Log, August 28, 2015).

In a recent CNN interview, Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon said: “Our focus, as it relates to firearms, should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays, and things like that. So the types of rifles we sell, the types of ammunition we sell, should be curated for those things. We believe in serving those customers, we have for a long time, and we believe we should continue to.” But when asked if he would discontinue sales of semi-automatic long guns, McMillon said, “Yes.”

READ MORE About Walmart’s Decision to Halt AR Sales

(Bloomberg.com)

(NPR.org)

(Reuters.com)