DICK’S TO CUT HUNTING, GUNS FROM 440 ADDITIONAL STORES

Dick’s plans on dropping guns from over half their stores this year. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Controversial big-box retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods said Tuesday they planned to eliminate hunting offerings and guns from over 400 stores.

The announcement came as part of regular investment disclosure for the fourth quarter of 2019 and forward-looking statements released this week. In all, the company stands to remove the hunting departments at least 440 additional stores this year, resulting in a $13.1 million write-down of inventory.

The move continues on the 800-store chain’s sometimes dramatic exit from the firearms industry. Last year, Dick’s announced they would pull guns from 125 locations, replacing the items with other types of sporting goods and outdoor recreation inventory. That move came after the company removed the gun departments from 10 stores in 2018.

Dick’s has had a rocky history with the shooting sports industry following the decision by the company two years ago to hire a government affairs group for gun control lobbying. The move, coupled with the retailer’s past choices to destroy their existing inventory of AR-15s and refuse firearm sales to those under age 21, didn’t sit well with some employees– 62 left the company. In the end, several firearms icons such as Mossberg, Springfield Armory and others cut ties with the retailer and the National Shooting Sports Foundation booted Dick’s from their trade group.

In 2019, Dick’s shed a series of eight Field & Stream-branded outdoor stores in a $28 million sale to Sportsman’s Warehouse, with the new owner quickly reversing course on gun sales. It still maintains 27 F&S locations, with the media company of the same name taking great pains to distance themselves from the outlets.