Sales slump at Dick’s Sporting Goods after stopping assault weapons sales

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Executives of Dick's Sporting Goods say sales are down months after announcing the stores would stop selling assault-style guns and wouldn't sell firearms or ammunition to people under the age of 21, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The decision came after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14. That school shooting left 17 dead.

The store also pulled most hunting items from 10 locations in August, CBS News reported.

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Looking at the numbers, executives said sales at stores and on the web fell 3.9 percent for the three-month period that ended Nov. 3, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Lack of sales in the hunting and electronics departments accounted for more than half of the decline.

Lower gun sales also contributed to lower sales in departments like outdoor equipment, since fewer hunters were entering the locations, Lee Belitsky, Dick's Sporting Goods' chief financial officer, told The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said it was the fifth consecutive quarter that sales were down at the chain.

Dick's company officials made the decision after they found that one of its stores sold a weapon to the Stoneman Douglas gunman, the "Today" show reported.

The gun the company sold was not used in the Parkland shooting, "Today" reported.

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