Retailers and government agencies are getting a taste of payback in response to their hard-line advocacy for more restrictions on guns. Springfield Armory recently announced its decision to sever business ties with Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiaries after Dick’s hired an anti-Second Amendment lobbying group.
The decision to retain Glover Park Group, reported by The Federalist, was the last straw in a list of things Dick’s has done in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high in Parkland, Fla., earlier this year. First, Dick’s arbitrarily decided to stop selling long guns to anyone under 21, although federal law puts the age at 18. Then Dick’s decided to pull its stock of AR-15s and related accessories from the shelves of its Field & Stream stores. Next, Dick’s announced it was destroying all the affected firearms and accessories it didn’t want to sell any more. Finally, last week, it hired Glover Park for “[l]obbying related to gun control.”
“It is clear where Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary, Field & Stream, stand on the Second Amendment, and we want to be clear about our message in response. Their position runs counter to what we stand for as a company. At Springfield Armory, we believe in the rights and principles fought for and secured by American patriots and our founding forefathers, without question. We will not accept Dick’s Sporting Goods’ continued attempts to deny Second Amendment freedoms to our fellow Americans,” Springfield posted on Facebook.
It is another move in the chess game that has pitted gun rights people against big business and government overreach. Among the other decisions:
- Hornady stopped doing business with New York government agencies after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged insurers and banks to reconsider doing business with the NRA and the firearm industry.
- The National Shooting Sports Foundation kicked Dick’s off its Board of Governors, saying its board “unanimously voted to expel Dick’s Sporting Goods from membership for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation.”
- NRA members went on a search-and-destroy mission if they owned Yeti coolers after Yeti’s relationship with the NRA went south.
- And municipalities—whether they be states or cities—that have moved independently to raise rifle-buying age limits or outlaw AR-15s or limit magazine capacity have set the stage for legal battles.
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