Dick’s Sporting goods Chairman and CEO Ed Stack is making the rounds answering questions about the fact that his company decided not to sell assault rifles. He said he is a gun owner and believes in the second amendment, adding that the whole idea of selling guns at his company is under scrutiny. His company also raised the legal age for gun buyers to 21 and stated that the company lost 250 million dollars but that it has recovered in the second quarter of 2019. So, we have a responsible company taking steps that should help our legislators enact more sensible regulations. After the killing of children at Sandy Hook elementary school and other tragedies we saw president Obama and members of Congress decrying the availability of assault rifles. The call for stricter measures died down in spite of other mass killings where automatic weapons were used.
The NRA is a powerful lobby and has a big presence in Washington, controlling the legislature with its funds. After John Lennon was killed in New York in 1980 there were calls for stricter laws. But gun control has always been a difficult issue to legislate. Even the attempt on Ronald Reagan’s life that ended up with permanent injuries for his press secretary James Brady did not move Reagan to change his mind about gun control. There are many aspect to any legislation regarding guns, regarding the manufacture, sale or possession of firearms, but there is one obvious step that needs to be taken, and that is the sale of AR-15 rifles. After Colt, the maker of that particular weapon announced that it would stop selling it to theciviwian market, anti gun advocates celebrated, but that is only a small step, and Congress needs to address the issue before more mass killings occur.