After days and weeks of discussion where President Trump also showed support to raise the age limit on gun purchases, Walmart has acted quickly. The company issued a statement, which stated that Walmart is all set to raise the minimum age requirement for gun purchases and ammunition.
On Wednesday, the multinational retail corporation announced that it will increase the age limit for firearms purchases to 21 years old.
In a statement, the company said, “We take seriously our obligation to be a responsible seller of firearms and go beyond Federal law by requiring customers to pass a background check before purchasing any firearm. The law would allow the sale of a firearm if no response to a background check request has been received within three business days, but our policy prohibits the sale until an approval is given.”
Further to this, the company has also announced that it will remove related items from its e-commerce store as well. The items “resembling assault-style rifles, including nonlethal airsoft guns and toys” will no longer be listed.
“Our heritage as a company has always been in serving sportsmen and hunters, and we will continue to do so in a responsible way,” the company stated.
Walmart’s move comes right after Dick’s Sporting Good, which announced to stop selling assault-style rifles and stop gun sales to people who are under the age of 21.
The CEO of Dick’s Sporting Good, Ed Stack, said in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America that he was “disturbed and saddened” by the mass shooting incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
“Based on what’s happened, and looking at those kids and those parents, it moved us all unimaginably and to think about the loss and the grief that those kids and those parents had, we said, we need to do something,” he added.
Ed Stack further said that he will not be looking to reverse the decision anytime soon. In addition, he called on Congress to take action on gun control “with the intent of really finding a solution to this problem.”
The two retail giants have made a bold move amid heightened calls for gun control in the weeks following the deadly Florida school shooting that left 17 people dead and 14 people injured.
President Donald Trump has also been forcing the Congress to raise the minimum age limit to 21 for all gun purchases. In a White House meeting, Trump told a bipartisan group of lawmakers, “This is not a popular thing to say in terms of the NRA, but I’m going to have to say it. … I think it’s something you have to think about.”
