After the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary where a deranged Adam Lanza killed 20 children, six adults, his mother and himself with a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the nation’s largest sporting goods retailer, Dick’s Sporting Goods, suspended the sale of firearms and modern sporting rifles.
The new arm of Dick’s Sporting Goods, a spinoff called Field & Stream, located in western Pennsylvania, has opened and is operating-selling guns and rifles. This marks the end of the “suspension of assault-style weapons sales after December’s massacre at Newtown, Connecticut’s elementary school,” according to the Huffington Post.
Dick’s Sporting Goods is a Fortune 500 company with over 451 stores in 42 states, mostly located in the eastern half of the United States. The chain is one of the world’s largest sporting goods retailers. The new spinoff store in Cranberry Township, Pa, is the first of two that are planned to open this year. The stores will focus on hunting and fishing gear, selling accessories and accoutrements that would be necessary.
After the Sandy Hook tragedy, Dick’s sporting goods released this statement, “out of respect for the victims and their families, during this time of national mourning we have removed all guns from sale and from display in our store nearest to Newtown and suspended the sale of modern sporting rifles in all our stores chain wide.”