Remember when Dick’s Sporting Goods refused to sell long guns to those under the age of 21 after the Parkland school shooting tragedy? Well now we’ve learned the company has lost close to $150 million in sales and the CEO STILL says he’s glad he made the change.
How crazy is that?
The Second Amendment’s biggest public enemies are Democrats and their allies. This cannot be overstated. And not only is the American Left (formerly known as the Democratic Party) the biggest enemy to the Second Amendment, they are the biggest – and now open – enemy to the entire U.S. Constitution.
I wonder why companies panic immediately when leftists protest but do nothing when conservatives protest and that business actually lose business. Remember to avoid Gillette/Proctor & Gamble products, too. It’s not just about guns.
Last February, when Dick’s Sporting Goods boss Ed Stack announced he was restricting gun sales at the country’s largest sports retailer, he knew it’d be costly.
At the time, Dick’s was a major seller of firearms. Guns also drove the sale of soft goods—boots, hats, jackets. What’s more, Stack, the retailer’s chief executive officer, suspected the position could drive off some of his customers on political principle.
He was right. Dick’s estimates the policy change cost the company about $150 million in lost sales, an amount equivalent to 1.7 percent of annual revenue. Stack says it was worth it.
No longer a go-to store for many gun-owners and hunters, Dick’s is now navigating its new reality. In August, the company announced it would remove hunting supplies and equipment entirely from 10 stores and use the space for team sports like baseball. Sales jumped in the test stores, and the company will implement the change in 125 additional stores, about 17 percent of the total fleet. After a dip in the last 12 months, the company expects same-store sales to be flat or rise a little. [Bloomberg]
The laws restricting gun ownership according to age (generally 18 for long guns, 21 for handguns), laws regarding restrictions on the purchase of tobacco and alcohol based on age are a clear indication that young people are not mentally prepared to responsibly use these items. I know I wasn’t. Yet Democrats want to lower the voting age to 16. That is dumber than dumb. Ninety-nine percent of 16-year-olds are not capable of exercising the judgment required to be responsible voters.
A new Dick’s Sporting Goods opened where I live a couple of years ago. A brand new store with a huge parking lot. Whenever I drive by it there are never more than half a dozen cars in the lot and I suspect some of them belong to employees. Of course, where I live is a big-time hunting area and there are plenty of other gun shops around (with knowledgeable staff who are hunters themselves).
As leftists bully corporations, and really everything/everyone else, into accepting the leftist ideology, those businesses become grey and numbing, a lot like Soviet institutions. We all can feel it. Censorship is oppressive. Perhaps this will give life to small businesses that are unique and personal. Many of us miss those.
