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Walmart Ends All Handgun Ammunition Sales and Asks Customers Not To Carry Guns Into Stores (cnn.com) 654

Posted by msmash from the taking-a-stand dept.
Walmart on Tuesday announced it will reduce its gun and ammunition sales, one month after more than 20 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Walmart also pressured Congress to enact gun safety measures. From a report: The company, America's largest retailer, said it will stop selling handgun ammunition and ammunition for short-barrel rifles after selling all of its current inventory. Walmart 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 4,700 US stores, or its Sam's Club stores, in states that allow open carry.

However, Walmart will continue to sell long barrel deer rifles and shotguns and much of the ammunition for those guns. Walmart will also continue to allow concealed carry by customers with permits in its stores. In a memo to employees on Tuesday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Walmart's changes were prompted by the El Paso, Texas, shooting, as well as recent mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and Midland and Odessa, Texas. "In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again," he said. "The status quo is unacceptable."
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Walmart Ends All Handgun Ammunition Sales and Asks Customers Not To Carry Guns Into Stores More

Walmart Ends All Handgun Ammunition Sales and Asks Customers Not To Carry Guns Into Stores

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  • And nothing of value was lost (Score:4, Insightful)

    by EmagGeek ( 574360 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @01:29PM (#59152518) Journal

    Walmart already didn't sell any ammo that was really useful for anything other than target practice, and for that there are plenty of other retailers that are far cheaper than Walmart.

    Walmart was good for some WWB in a pinch, but nobody ever used Walmart as their supply for any appreciable quantity of target ammunition.

    For personal defense ammunition, their selection was nil to none, so really nothing of value is being lost here.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by mrops ( 927562 )

      That is a win win then, nothing of value was lost however it is significant to see large corporations wanting to change status quo, its moving in the right direction. Enough large corporation, enough money will hopefully trump (no not that Trump) NRA lobby. So something was gained, aka public opinion that gun control needs to happen.

      • Re:And nothing of value was lost (Score:5, Informative)

        by bobbied ( 2522392 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @02:05PM (#59152710)

        Good luck getting Bass Pro and Cabalas to stop selling firearms and ammo... But I do most of my shopping at the local gun dealer anyway. They have what I need at reasonable prices and are good for advice if I need it.

        Ammo is a legal product, it will be sold one way or another. If not at Wal-Mart, then at the local Gun Dealer, mail order or out of the back of a truck on the street. If you don't like those options, then make your own. The equipment and supplies are cheap and the process isn't that hard, just tedious.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

          Good luck getting Bass Pro and Cabalas to stop selling firearms and ammo...

          There's one Bass Pro and one Cabelas within reasonable drive my where I live (if I want to drive 2-3 hours, that number expands to about 4). I can be at roughly 5 Wal-Marts within a 45 minute drive. So that will still cut down on availability.

          The local gun shops by me have horrible ammo selections anyway unless you only shoot 9mm, .45, 5.56, or 7.62x39. I have to go to Cabelas or the mega gun store about 40 minutes away just to find .30 carbine. I had a hard time even finding 7.62x54.

          Speaking of 7.62x54

          • Re:And nothing of value was lost (Score:4, Informative)

            by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @02:33PM (#59152906) Homepage Journal

            The local gun shops by me have horrible ammo selections anyway unless you only shoot 9mm, .45, 5.56, or 7.62x39. I have to go to Cabelas or the mega gun store about 40 minutes away just to find .30 carbine. I had a hard time even finding 7.62x54.

            Just buy ammo online.

            Watch for coupons, and you can buy in bulk for a discount, free shipping and often no sales tax collected.

          • All this does is cut down on how fast you can get ammo, sometimes... It's still out there, but it may take a few days to lay your hands on it.

            There are literally 4 gun dealers within a 20 min drive of my house that sell ammo (3 of which have ranges where you can shoot said ammo). There are a few more Wal-Mart Stores in that range, but not that many. I am already forced to buy online or mail order (Or pay outrageous prices at an "Outdoors" national chain). So that's what I do, buy in bulk and just keep it

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by segin ( 883667 )

        Gun control will lead to knife control will lead to bomb control will lead to chemicals control... fix the actual problem instead of playing whack-a-mole with the symptoms. No gun control is ever acceptable. If people gotta die because no one wants to actually fix the underlying cause, then let it be blood on the policymaker's hands.

        One if by bullet, two if by knife, but dead is dead, so I guess that's alright.

    • Re:And nothing of value was lost (Score:4)

      by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @01:34PM (#59152548)

      that's not true, adequate hunting and self defense ammo sold by Winchester, Federal, Remington, etc.

      • Yeah I'm curious about this guy's standards here.

    • I wonder if they'll see a drop in business as a result of this. Dick's Sporting Goods did something similar a few years ago as I recall and there were some people who quit doing business with them as a result. Normally I wouldn't care one way or another. Let everyone do what they want with their business or their store, but I'll admit to some schadenfreude when it comes to Walmart.

    • Not quite correct, at least at our local Walmart: they were selling 200 rounds of Federal Red Box 9mm for $33, which was cheap enough to buy locally instead of buying online. But, if they don't want that money, interested customers will take it elsewhere I'm sure.

    • Walmart already didn't sell any ammo that was really useful for anything other than target practice, and for that there are plenty of other retailers that are far cheaper than Walmart.

      Could you qualify what sort of ammo it was that they sold that was "only good for target practice"?

      • Target practice ammo or range ammo is usually FMJ (full metal jacket). It shoots a bullet that doesn't expand when hitting a target. Self defense ammo is usually hollow point, a bullet that expands by rolling back the edges when hitting a target. FMJ is cheaper to use and not desirable in self defense mode as it can go right thru the target and hit what's on the other side while a hollow point bullet is usually more expensive and doesn't exit the target.

        • Most SD ammo is actually designed to penetrate enough to satisfy the FBI standard tests, which is plenty enough to exit most 'targets', an interesting euphemism for a person intent on doing one harm. What is true is that a lot of SD ammo will typically expend more of its energy in the first substantial thing it hits than similar FMJ or TMJ typically will. Ammo specifically designed to not exit a human body is a subset of SD ammo and is generally referred to as frangible or 'safety' ammo. Typical handgun amm
    • They actually have quite a good selection of ammo in Washington State and their prices were quite reasonable. Most of their guns however; are specially made versions just for WM with ultra cheap parts. Unless it's a nationally available model number, it's garbage.

    • Not completely true (Score:4, Interesting)

      by bjdevil66 ( 583941 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @01:56PM (#59152670)

      It was the first place I'd look for decent .357 ammo because they sold yellow-box Remington ammo at a decent price.

      More importantly, the real issue is with supply. When there's no cheap alternative, the remaining sellers can ratchet up their prices.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      This gun control thing in the United States has already gone too far. We should enact the 2nd amendment exactly as it is written.

      Every child in the US should be issued one AR-15 assault rifle at birth. They should also be issued 30 round magazine and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. LIke wise every child born is to be issued one 9mm handgun, with a 14 round magazine and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Every child in the United States it to be trained in the use of these weapons at the age of eight years of a

  • That'll definitely work (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kinthelt ( 96845 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @01:31PM (#59152526) Homepage

    They will also end drownings by not selling wading pools anymore.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      A wading pool is not designed to drown the inhabitant. A firearm on the other hand is designed to kill who it is used on.

      • And one store or group of stores stopping the sale of ammunition will not save a single person either, so what is the real point of this?

        Walmart just loses revenue, its their loss. They will just be bought somewhere else.

        • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @02:12PM (#59152752)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • They will also end drownings by not selling wading pools anymore.

      While I agree that their action is unlikely to affect the homicide rate, at all, that analogy doesn't really hold water, because the thing they're refusing to sell any more is a major component of the tool used to commit most homicides in this country.

      At the very least, it makes a lot more sense than their decision a while ago to stop selling modern rifles, which don't play a statistically-significant role in the murder rate.

      • So, dead people isn't the issue. Thanks for making that clear. It is the mode of death that matters. Thanks for enlightening us on your standard of virtue.

        2016 statistics: 11,004 gun homicides, 65% handguns, 6% rifle/shotgun, 30% other/unknown type. 67 identified as being by "rifle". You think that 30/30, 3006, .227, 5.56 ... etc are a horrible problem? And, if you take out the top 5 Cities, (Detroit, Chicago, Philly, DC, NewOrleans) the totals drop dramatically.

        But we aren't allowed to talk about those cit

    • If they stop selling tires that would prevent people from getting run over in the parking lot.
    • To stop drownings, we need to ban water.

  • Not the best move, not the worst... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Magnificat ( 1920274 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @01:35PM (#59152552)
    I'm not particularly happy about them stopping sales of handgun ammo, as it is a convenient place to stop before heading to the range. As far as banning open carry, I have no major issue -- especially as they are still allowing CC by permit holders. Personally, open carrying in a Walmart is not a bright move anyway, as it is essentially flaunting that you are carrying, can easily make other customers nervous, guarantees in-store security will be watching you like a hawk rather than watching other customers in a loss prevention role, and open carry makes it more likely you will be the first one targeted in an actual active shooter situation (you also have higher odds of someone trying to take it away from you). As long as they still allow permit holders to carry concealed, this is actually a fairly smart move on their part.

    • I'm mostly with you on this.

      It is convenient to buy ammo at Wal-Mart, but there are plenty of gun shops available. Prices will go up a bit, but hey.

      I'm not sure open carry in many venues is either helpful or wise. It is provocative. It's possibly unnecessary, a concealed weapon can be drawn almost as quickly, and if you're not that skilled you need to reconsider your carry, which is why I do not carry.

      But we continue to see these devastating incidents involving either illegally obtained weapons, emotionally

    • Re:Not the best move, not the worst... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @01:49PM (#59152630)

      ... and open carry makes it more likely you will be the first one targeted in an actual active shooter situation (you also have higher odds of someone trying to take it away from you).

      Open or concealed carry, if you are holding a gun when SWAT shows up it also increases your likelihood of being mistaken for the shooter and shot by SWAT by several orders of magnitude, especially if you are not white. Not that I can blame them for being confused, they get a call about a shooting rampage at a Wallmart, enter the scene and there's a dozen people with guns, which one is the shooter? There's a video on YouTube of two of these SWAT troopers shooting a guy they had crawling on the floor doing some insanely complex demented version of 'Simon says' because he moved his hand behind his shoulder [youtube.com]. I can only imagine what these SWAT guys would do in in a situation where they are confronted by a dozen guys carrying guns of whom one is a mad shooter and eleven are concealed or open carry citizens.

      • And this is why you should continue to train after you've gotten a CCL. This has come up in several training sessions (usually but not always in the context of an active shooter scenario), and the trainers' response has always been (paraphrasing a bit):

        "If you're more worried about SWAT than you are about the active shooter, seek cover, leave the area, and be prepared to render first aid if required or requested. Nobody has ever been arrested or shot by Law Enforcement for failure to engage an active shoo

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

          And this is why you should continue to train after you've gotten a CCL. This has come up in several training sessions (usually but not always in the context of an active shooter scenario), and the trainers' response has always been (paraphrasing a bit):

          "If you're more worried about SWAT than you are about the active shooter, seek cover, leave the area, and be prepared to render first aid if required or requested. Nobody has ever been arrested or shot by Law Enforcement for failure to engage an active shooter."

          All of the trainers I've worked with have suggested setting up behavior triggers: if someone does something, what will you do? If it's an armed robbery, will you attempt to stop the robber? If it's an active shooter targeting the public at large? Targeting a woman or a child? Targeting your spouse or children? Are you willing to engage an active shooter to prevent greater loss of life, knowing that there are very good odds that you'll be engaged not only by SWAT/Law Enforcement, but also by other concealed carriers on scene who may not take the time to sort out good guys from bad?

          Only the carrier can make that decision in that moment.

          One of my often proposed elements of what I consider sane gun control is a requirement to attend an initial training session followed by yearly recurrent training covering basic firearm safety, handling, marksmanship, laws, and scenarios. Anyone that is carrying a gun in public should have had to demonstrate at least basic marksmanship skills and know the proper way to handle the most likely scenarios(when to draw, when to engage, when to avoid, etc).

    • If I saw someone open carrying and then heard there was an active shooter. I'm probably going to be instantly hostile to him if I see him again.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jythie ( 914043 )
        Sadly, open carry people always seem to be one 'how dare you disrespect me!' away from being an active shooter. The whole point of open carry is to change the way people treat you, and boy can they get testy when you fail to behave the way they want you to.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Wait, do you think there's a mass number of dudes carrying guns places legally then getting pissed and shooting people? Sure, it happens, but it's typically gangland shit and it's not like they're going to obey the law and stop carrying.

        You people never really understand the problem. If you wanted to stop the most deaths in the US from guns you'd outlaw plain old semi automatic pistols. Nothing else even comes close gun-wise, rifles including AR15's are in the noise. Similarly, people carrying guns legally

    • It sounds like they aren't even banning open carry, per se, merely asking customers not to.

  • If companies/people want to do stuff like this i wish they would do it and just shut up. I guess the feel like it's good, free advertising.
    Typical reaction though. Wd have a couple apples with worms in them. Let's cut down the orchard.
    As for the article here.... i fail to see the tech angle. That seems to be a growing trend.

    • See Dick's for a perfect example of "feel good" policies and "How feel good policies can impact the bottom line."

  • the weapon used in mass shooting was not the type sold at Walmart.

    Mainstream hunting, target and self defense ammo sold there. That ammo used by normal people for intended purpose.

  • They'll need it when they have to tell open-carry fans to stay out of the store.
  • No more mexican standoff for the last t-bone steak at the meat counter.

  • They asked people to not openly carry. You can concealed carry all you want.

  • Of course I suppose you could probably consider a gun nut a type of nerd. The 'caliber wars' of people fighting over which cartridge is best rival any internet argument you'd see within any nerd sub culture. Not to mention 'Glock vs 1911' slap fights. Still... trying to make this one very stupid decision by Wally world a piece of 'news for nerds' seem like a hell of a stretch

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @02:23PM (#59152826)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      My prediction: if a ban actually worked, liberals will end up watching U-Hauls being loaded down with heavy garbage and rammed into large crowds of people. /p>

      It's a lot easier and cheaper to build anti vehicle barriers around schools, buildings, and pedestrian areas than it is to hand out bullet proof vests to everyone or send every kid to school with a Kevlar backpack. Metal/concrete posts, large concrete planters, etc. A lot of them can and are designed in such a way that they aren't even noticeable as barriers.

      • Or you could just absorb the fewer-than-1000 deaths from rifles including AR15's in the US as the laughable noise, statistically, that they are and grow up.

        I was reading some nonsense about someone lamenting the fact that to live in the US now you have to know trauma care. No you fucking don't, what kind of imaginary bullshit world do people live in? The odds of you being involved in any way in a mass shooting are fucking minuscule, absolutely tiny. You'd be much more likely to save lives learning to give t

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

          Or you could just absorb the fewer-than-1000 deaths from rifles including AR15's in the US as the laughable noise, statistically, that they are and grow up.

          I'd still rather have sub-1k per year deaths from truck ramming than I would AR-15s. But the gun control I support doesn't place any additional restrictions on which firearms can be legally owned. I prefer mandatory licensing and training (including yearly recurring training), classifying any magazine over 30 rounds as NFA much like silencers, and mandatory background checks for privates sales/transfers.

    • Re:They want to renew the AWB (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SoftwareArtist ( 1472499 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @04:12PM (#59153562)

      Let's look at the data [wikipedia.org]. The murder rate in the US is 5.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. The very highest rate of any country in western Europe is 1.7 in Belgium. Clearly Europe has proved that restricting guns doesn't work.

  • guns are different than knives (Score:4, Insightful)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @02:26PM (#59152850)
    People make all kinds of false relationships to selling knives, bats, etc. A gun has only three purposes, target shooting, hunting animals and killing people. This makes it different than any other implement out there in that the first two aren't really important enough to keep allowing people to do the third.
    • A bat only has TWO purposes: hitting a ball, or hitting a person. Let's ban bats...

    • When the President's bodyguards stop carrying guns, it'll be time for me to consider getting rid of mine.

      so, unless someone wants to amend the Constitution, people are going to own guns. Get over it...

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