Gun Control

Earlier today, Walmart announced it will stop selling handgun ammunition and "short-barrel rifle ammunition," such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber, that can also be used on assault-style weapons. The retailer will also stop selling handguns in Alaska, the only state where it still sells handguns. And Walmart will request that customers no longer openly carry guns into its stores in the 26 states that allow open carry. The company will continue to sell long barrel deer rifles and shotguns and much of the ammunition for those guns.

The company currently has a 2% market share on gun sales, and a 20% market share on ammunition sales. They expect their market share of ammunition to decrease down to 6%. It stopped selling assault rifles in 2015 and raised its minimum gun purchasing age to 21 last year.

Quote: reno

Earlier today, Walmart announced it will stop selling handgun ammunition and "short-barrel rifle ammunition," such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber, that can also be used on assault-style weapons. The retailer will also stop selling handguns in Alaska, the only state where it still sells handguns. And Walmart will request that customers no longer openly carry guns into its stores in the 26 states that allow open carry. The company will continue to sell long barrel deer rifles and shotguns and much of the ammunition for those guns.

The company currently has a 2% market share on gun sales, and a 20% market share on ammunition sales. They expect their market share of ammunition to decrease down to 6%. It stopped selling assault rifles in 2015 and raised its minimum gun purchasing age to 21 last year.

If they were serious they would stop selling auto parts to stop all the deaths due to auto accidents.

Texas woman shoots suspected robber trying to grab purse: 'I shot until I couldn't shoot anymore'

Hope she didn't get blood on her car.

Quote: AZDuffman

Texas woman shoots suspected robber trying to grab purse: 'I shot until I couldn't shoot anymore'

Hope she didn't get blood on her car.

Libbies would rather see her get robbed. They don't want criminals to die by guns.

Quote: reno

Earlier today, Walmart announced it will stop selling handgun ammunition and "short-barrel rifle ammunition," such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber, that can also be used on assault-style weapons. The retailer will also stop selling handguns in Alaska, the only state where it still sells handguns. And Walmart will request that customers no longer openly carry guns into its stores in the 26 states that allow open carry. The company will continue to sell long barrel deer rifles and shotguns and much of the ammunition for those guns.

The company currently has a 2% market share on gun sales, and a 20% market share on ammunition sales. They expect their market share of ammunition to decrease down to 6%. It stopped selling assault rifles in 2015 and raised its minimum gun purchasing age to 21 last year.

/common pedantry on

"Caliber" is gunner-speak for "inch". A .22lr has a round that measures .22" in diameter, for example. Non idiotic countries adopted the metric system; theirs are measured in millimeters. The .223cal and the 5.56mm (listed above) are the same round

/gunner pedantry on

Specifically, the 5.56 NATO is a "hot" round. The leade (space between round and rifling) is slightly longer in a 5.56 rifle to account for the hotness, whereas a .223 rifle does not have this extra space (fractions of a mm). You CAN fire 5.56 out of a .223, but due to the lack of this leade, it causes a spike in pressures that could lead to metal fatigue and put a clock on your rifle. It's in many ways similar to .38 Special v .357mag, .45ACP v .460 Casull, etc.

/all pedantry off

On topic, it's a bit of aggravating virtue signaling as I do did buy most my ammo from there, but it doesn't crack the top ten reasons to be pissed at WalMart. They can follow Dick's right into the s#$%ter for all I care (not that hundreds of millions in lost sales will grief them much, or at all lol =p)

Big win for the mom and pops. They used to just get my 10mm and Russian ammo budget. Now they get the whole shootin' match. For a move that harms WMT while benefitting home shops, I give it the sear of approval.

Get it? "Sear"?...

I'll see myself out...

Quote: Face

Big win for the mom and pops.

Envision a small independent mom & pop gun store in a small isolated rural town, and then a giant Walmart Superstore opens. Walmart undercuts the mom & pop store's prices, poaches their customers, and maybe even drives them out of business. Gun enthusiasts would be mad at Walmart!

But yesterday Walmart did the opposite of that scenario, ceding the market to small local enterprises who can offer better variety of inventory, more knowledgeable salesmen, and keep local profits in the local community. And gun enthusiasts are mad at Walmart! They can't win.

Just out of curiosity... how much cheaper is ammunition at Walmart compared to your local gun store? 10% cheaper? 20% cheaper?

Quote: AZDuffman

If they were serious they would stop selling auto parts to stop all the deaths due to auto accidents.

It was a calculated business decision made by soulless corporate bean counters.

Reminds me of CVS' decision to stop selling cigarettes. CVS estimated that they would lose $1.5 billion in sales of tobacco plus another $500 million in sales losses due to lower foot traffic, for a $2 billion revenue loss.

In 1977, 50% of US households had a gun. Now it's just 30%. Walmart is probably betting that the long term trajectory is downhill from here. For a corporation that had $500 billion in revenue in 2018 (not a typo), losing those ammo sales is just a few pennies to them.

Quote: reno

Envision a small independent mom & pop gun store in a small isolated rural town, and then a giant Walmart Superstore opens. Walmart undercuts the mom & pop store's prices, poaches their customers, and maybe even drives them out of business. Gun enthusiasts would be mad at Walmart!

But yesterday Walmart did the opposite of that scenario, ceding the market to small local enterprises who can offer better variety of inventory, more knowledgeable salesmen, and keep local profits in the local community. And gun enthusiasts are mad at Walmart! They can't win.

Just out of curiosity... how much cheaper is ammunition at Walmart compared to your local gun store? 10% cheaper? 20% cheaper?

Oh, if in a different mood I'd probably be mad, too. Caught me in a rare moment of peace lol ;)

I reckon because, as I said, it's just virtue signaling. On top of that, though it is purely a business decision based on popular trends (and I suspect you can admit this is true, just like .com's jumping on Pride), it lends a large voice to the anti movement, a movement I believe, based on all available facts, isn't making a good faith argument. I haven't looked in a hot minute, but I'd bet up to $50 that the number of people killed per year by rifles is under 500, and would bet another $10 that you won't find a year that that number breaks 500.

(Try to) forget every bit of the divisiveness, rift building and politicization of this topic, and what did Walmart really do?

While we wait for your answer, I'll offer something. Dicks lost $150,000,000 when they virtue signaled over firearms. $150mm. Walmart is quite a bit larger, so we can at least say $150mm is a fair number. For $25mm LESS, Walmart could have created 5,000 new jobs and hired an EMS for every single one of their US and US territory locations (based on starting salary of NYC EMS). Every single one. 5,000 new jobs at tens of millions in savings and saved, I guaran-damn-tee, more than the <500 lives per year that are taken by rifle rounds.

See? You can find damn near anything to get bent about =)

Re: savings, it was huge when I was a kid, but mind this was before FedEx and the .coms. An easy $28 at home for what should be $20 at WMT. My adult life it's just a matter of convenience. I get ammo there because I'm already there, ya know? Only time I am was at the gun store was for the niche calibers and foreign MILSURP.

Nowadays the price difference is negligible, certainly not worth driving for. Maybe a dollar or two p/box of 20-25, or the standard savings a mass distribution like WMT typically has over mom and pop for anything. In addition, many serious shooters don't use either. If you pull your firearm more that two weeks every fall, you're either reloading in your basement or buying by the crate if not palett. THAT'S where the savings are. A box of 20 - .223 goes for $25 at Cabelas (LOL my ass off at $1.25 p/rd) while any bulk ammo outlet will send you a crate of 500 for $269.99 ($0.54 p/rd) or a palett of 5,000 for $1,299.99 ($0.26 p/rd).

In short, some rednecks will get fired up and get over it, WMT will take a small hit and get over it, and we'll be griping about something else by Friday morning.

Quote: reno

The TSA discovered 3,391 guns in carry-on bags in 2016 (9 guns per day.) And yes, 83% of them were loaded.

Why does this number keep going up?

2,212 guns confiscated at airports in 2014.
2,653 guns confiscated at airports in 2015.
3,391 guns confiscated at airports in 2016.
3,957 guns confiscated at airports in 2017.
4,239 guns confiscated at airports in 2018.

By the way, this is why I oppose arming school teachers. Too many gun owners are terrible at keeping track of their loaded guns. And people want to trust teachers not to lose loaded guns? Crazy.

The TSA typically fines first time offenders $3,900.

It keeps going up because time and time again the general public has demonstrated time and time again that they are not capable of the responsibility of gun is ownership.

License, register, train, test.