XPost: alt.politics.usa.constitution, alt.politics.guns, alt.california   
   XPost: sac.general   
   From: gp@dont-email.me   
      
   We have recently been reporting on the bizarre anti-gun activism   
   of one of the nation’s larger firearm retailers, Dick’s Sporting   
   Goods and its affiliated Field & Stream stores. First, the   
   company announced it would stop selling most centerfire semi-   
   automatic rifles at its stores, carry only limited capacity   
   magazines for semi-automatic guns, and ban firearm sales to   
   certain legally eligible adults. It then took the further step   
   of declaring it would destroy its inventory of the newly-   
   restricted firearms at company expense. And if that weren’t   
   enough, the news also recently broke that the company had hired   
   expensive D.C. lobbyists to push for gun control measures on   
   Capitol Hill.   
      
   Dick’s, in other words, was positioning itself as a rising star   
   in the field of corporate gun control activism, in obvious   
   contradiction of its own financial interests.   
      
   Now, however, the pro-gun community is parrying Dick’s gun   
   control thrust with their own countermeasures, while customers   
   appear to be eschewing Dick’s to search for bargains elsewhere.   
      
   Last week, the Board of Governors of the National Shooting   
   Sports Foundation (NSSF) – the trade association for the   
   firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries –   
   voted unanimously to expel Dick’s Sporting Goods from membership   
   in the organization. While the NSSF noted it supports the rights   
   of its members to make individual business decisions, it   
   determined that Dick’s new polices do not “reflect the reality   
   of the vast majority of law-abiding gun owners” and constitute   
   “conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation.”   
   Law-abiding gun owners, the company added, “should not be   
   penalized for the actions of criminals.”   
      
   Meanwhile, members of the firearms industry have also begun   
   withdrawing their products from Dick’s and Field & Stream   
   outlets.   
      
   First, Illinois-based Springfield Armory – maker of several   
   lines of highly-popular rifles and pistols -- announced early   
   this month that was “severing ties” with the two retailers. In   
   announcing the decision, Springfield Armory stated, “we believe   
   in the rights and principles fought for and secured by American   
   patriots and our founding forefathers, without question.” It   
   concluded, “We will not accept Dick’s Sporting Goods’ continued   
   attempts to deny Second Amendment freedoms to our fellow   
   Americans.”   
      
   Iconic shotgun maker O.F. Mossberg & Sons followed up this week   
   with its own announcement that it will “not accept any future   
   orders from Dick’s Sporting Goods or Field & Stream” and is “in   
   the process of evaluating current contractual agreements.”   
   Mossberg’s press release on the decision cited its own “staunch   
   support[] of the U.S. Constitution and our Second Amendment   
   right” and its disagreement with “Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent   
   anti-Second Amendment actions.”   
      
   MKS Supply, marketer of Hi-Point Firearms and Inland   
   Manufacturing, LLC, has now become the latest supplier to cut   
   off Dick’s and Field & Stream. Its president, Charles Brown,   
   justified the decision on the basis that “Dick’s Sporting Goods   
   and its subsidiary, Field & Stream, have shown themselves, in   
   our opinion, to be no friend of Americans’ Second Amendment.” He   
   went on to cite several “wrong” moves by Dick’s in recent   
   months, including “villainizing modern sporting rifles in   
   response to pressure from uninformed, anti-gun voices” and   
   “hiring lobbyists to oppose American citizens’ freedoms secured   
   by the Second Amendment.”   
      
   This industry pressure on Dick’s comes at a sensitive time for   
   the company. Its shares took a steep 6.3% dive in March, amid   
   what analysts described as a “downbeat outlook.” Indeed, its own   
   CEO Edward Stack admitted his new investment in gun control “is   
   not going to be positive from a traffic standpoint and a sales   
   standpoint.”   
      
   How that assessment squares with his own obligations to the   
   company and its shareholders is unclear. Profits, after all, are   
   where the rubber meets the road in any business enterprise.   
      
   What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that Dick’s has   
   inserted itself into a tight spot from which it might not emerge   
   unscathed, if it manages to survive at all. Its business with   
   Second Amendment supporters in particular may well grind to a   
   halt.   
      
   Should that happen, Dick’s will have no one to blame but itself,   
   and especially Mr. Stack. Dick’s example should serve as a   
   warning for other businesses in the firearm sector that would   
   hope to find common cause with activists who are seeking nothing   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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