Big tip of the hat to The Firearms Blog for getting the skinny on Walmart’s plans with respect to selling AR-15s and certain tactical shotguns.
Long story short, Walmart will discontinue selling AR-15s, shotguns with 18 1/2 inch barrels, and .22 rifles that resemble AR-15s. Though, a spokesman for the retail giant, said the decision was “not political,” but had to do with market conditions.
Here is the Q&A TFB had with a representative from Walmart:
TFB: Will Wal-Mart continue to sell AR15s in any of the retail stores?
Walmart: No, Wal-Mart has discontinued selling AR15s in any of our stores.
TFB: Are there any other guns that will no longer be sold at Wal-Mart?
Walmart: Yes, we have also discontinued sales of shotguns with 18 1/2 inch barrels as well as .22 rifles that look like AR15s. There will be no MSR guns of any type sold in any Wal-Mart stores.
TFB: It sounds like Wal-Mart will stop selling any product that could be labeled tactical or defense related would that be true?
Walmart: Yes that’s true we will not be selling accessories for the AR15 and other guns. We are getting back to selling only hunting and sporting guns and accessories.
TFB: Would this include the Blackhawk brand of add ons for AR15s and various shotgun add ons?
Walmart: Pretty much any product related to tactical guns and gear will be or has been discontinued.
TFB: I guess my next question would be why? Is it the current political climate?
Walmart: No not at all. Wal-Mart only sells guns in one third of our stores and sales of this type of gun and accessories have dropped off a great deal. It’s a business decision and a decision made by our customers request we sell more traditional guns and accessories. In order to expand our offerings of traditional guns we had to make more space and discontinue guns that were not selling. This is really about providing our customers with what they want to purchase.
TFB: So I guess this also ties into the run on AR15s a while back and the subsequent reduced sales. Will this be a permanent decision or at some point could Wal-Mart decide to start selling AR15s again?
Walmart: I see this as a permanent decision at this point. Again this was a financial decision due to slow sales and what our customers have let us know they prefer to see at Wal-Mart which is a wider selection of traditional rifles and shotguns.
TFB: Sir I thank you for your time and answering our readers questions. I’m sure our readers will appreciate it.
Walmart: You’re welcome thank you for contacting us.
“Gun Talk” radio host Tom Gresham also confirmed the decision. On Twitter, he wrote the following:
CONFIRMED with Walmart corporate offices. Getting rid of AR-15s. They aren't selling. Replacing with hunting guns. "Not political." ROI.
— Tom Gresham (@Guntalk) August 25, 2015
AR-15 sales are down across the country. Walmart measures sales to many decimal points. Deals can be had, if you move FAST.
— Tom Gresham (@Guntalk) August 25, 2015
Walmart decision was made months ago, they say. Say they are adding guns to some stores that don't now have them. Support your gun store.
— Tom Gresham (@Guntalk) August 25, 2015
Those ARs that Walmart is returning to distributors and makers will show up on the market. Look for a flood of good deals. React quickly.
— Tom Gresham (@Guntalk) August 25, 2015
Well, what are your thoughts? Do you believe the decision was completely apolitical and strictly business?
Mmm guest that there story and there story lol
YES IT IS TIME TO START A BOYCOTT AGAINST THIS LIBERAL OUT FIT CALLED WALLY WORLD ! BUY EVERY THING SOME PLACE ELSE! ESPECIALLY FOOD STUFF’S ! TIME TO CALL YOUR SELF AN AMERICAN AND SLOW DOWN CHINA’S EVERY THING IMPORTS TO WALLY WORLD ! BRING THEM TO THEIR KNEE’S FOR CAVING TO THE LIBERAL SOCIALIST JERKS CALLED DEMOCRATS ! BUY U S A AND NOT CHINA CRAP !
I already don’t shop very much at Walmart. I have bought too many tools that were seconds that I could have paid a little more to have first quality ones for a few dollars more. The ARs were pretty generic anyway. They had no bayonet lugs, or very few with rails, etc. Just like their meat from Argentina. I prefer to buy real American beef, and firearms from Scheels, Mills Fleet Farm, and other gun retailers such as Sportsmens Warehouse to name a few! They are becoming politically correct because even their pellet guns that looked like AR 15 were yanked from their shelves. They also won’t even make Confederate flag cakes in their bakery! I never was a fan of Walmart, but am even less of one now! I plan to buy all of my ammo somewhere else, and perhaps purchase more ARs, etc. in those places as well! I plan to buy food from the food stores, and clothing from real clothing stores that sell tough wearing real mens clothes! Walmart never sold Western wear as far as I can tell anyway!
Boycott Walmart!
We need to shop less in wally world
We need to shop less in wally world
Wal-Mart is where you go to buy duct tape and trash cans not guns ,the sales people don’t know what they are selling or how to file the paper work ,if you want a car you don’t go to advance auto do you
I don’t know about buying cars at Advance Auto, however I have, on more than one occasion, sold a car to a customer of theirs. I have also sold guns to patrons shopping for guns at Wal-Mart.
Well, there’s a couple of schools of thought here, but there’s also some hidden/less talked about issues. Here’s a couple of points, some statements made by Walmart execs and the LAWSUIT,
In a June 23 interview with CNNMoney (see video at bottom), Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon had indicated he might do away with black gun sales.
“Our focus in terms of firearms should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays, and things like that,” said McMillon in June. “So the types of rifles we sell, the types of ammunition we sell, should be curated for those things.”
When asked if he would discontinue sales of semiautomatic long guns, McMillon said, “Yes.” He added, “We want to serve people who hunt and fish and we want to have a great sporting goods department.”
In an NPR interview Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg said the decision to phase out the controversial semi-automatics was based in business, not politics, citing declining demand.
“If you have a product customers aren’t buying, you phase it out,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
He added that Wal-Mart shoppers “were buying shotguns and rifles, and so we are increasing assortment in that.”
Lundberg tells NPR the move is happening now because of the change in seasons:
“As our Sporting Goods departments are resetting this week from Summer to Fall, the MSRs are being taking out of the assortment and replaced with new rifles and shotguns.”
OR is this lawsuit by church shareholders REALLY THE TRUTH BEHIND THE ISSUE, “Wal-Mart’s right to sell guns at risk in lawsuit”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/7/wal-mart-franchisees-pushing-retailer-to-cease-sel/?page=all
Walmart didn’t get to be the largest retailer in the world by being stupid. They are fully aware the average gun owner
is too lazy and too selfish to take a stand. THEY will tell us what we can buy and what we can’t.. They know most of the gun folks will simply justify their actions by stating “I don’t want an AR anyway ” and continue to support Walmart just to save a buck on their next box of ammo. Dicks stopped selling AR’s and handgunss and yet 10’s of thousands of hunters will still buy other shooting and hunting equipment from the same company that just told them “, the 2nd. ammendment doesn’t apply here”. I hate to be the purver of bad news but it ain’t gonna get any better……..How do think we got this President ???
Good insight, Well said!
I don’t shop Dick’s, nor would I if there were one nearby. As for Walmart’s claim that its decision is not political; unadulterated hogwash.
Will they take out the tactical magazines too? They might as well omplete the absolute censorship and denial of our rights. Perhaps we guys should go to each magazine section at Walmart, collect all the gun porn that these haters find disgusting and carry them over to customer service and tell them to take this disgusting filth out of eyesight! Surrender and capitulate gentlemen, its time. We should also all wear pink for solidarity.
Tell me how it;s not political. I received this in e-mail from Brownells this A.M.:
“Gun Sales Remain Hot, Hot, Hot – The National Shooting Sports Foundation recently released some very exciting numbers on gun sales this summer. There were over 880,000 NICS checks for gun sales in June – a 10% increase over June 2014, and the highest number EVER recorded for any June since NICS checks began 17 years ago.”
I can’t believe that a worth while percent of those firearms were not black rifles. Walmart has no testicle fortitude.
WalMart stopped selling guns in California years ago because of compliance issues (poor documentation of sales), and although they said they’d be back when they got their issues with the ATF resolved, it never happened. Which is consistent with the statement that WalMart sells guns in only 1/3 of its stores–suggesting it is phasing out this business line.
Maybe ARs aren’t selling at Walmart because it’s not the place people think of when it comes to buying an AR. In general, Walmart seems to be much more influenced by business indicators than politics.
The only other step towards convincing Americans to boycott wall mart that company could take is banning ebt.
Boycott them.
Well Sears sold guns & discontinued them. They sunk low. Kmart sold guns & discontinued them & looked what happened to them. Then they joined together & still did not equal Walmart. So lets say good buy to Walmart. Gun stores need to be frequented because they need to be supported.
Yeah, you don’t order pizza at a Chinese restaurant. Sounds like more politically correct BS to me.
I wonder if they are going to stop selling 5.56X45 ammo? I imagine they won’t, since they sell handgun ammo, but refuse to sell handguns. They know the idiot gun grabbers wouldn’t know the difference between a 9mm, and a .416 Rigby. Just another reason not to shop at WallyWorld