Dick's and Walmart face ageism lawsuits over gun-selling policy

Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart are facing lawsuits filed by an Oregon man who hasn't yet turned 21, the age that these companies now require a rifle buyer to be to make the purchase. This is in spite of federal law that has the minimum age of purchasing a rifle to be 18.

Tyler Watson, 20, filed suits against both retailers after they refused to sell him a rifle.

The Associated Press reports:

Tyler Watson's lawsuits filed against the retailers in two separate counties claim he faced age discrimination from Dick's and Walmart, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported The policies enacted on Feb. 28

The lawsuit claims a store owned by Dick's Sporting Goods in Medford, Oregon, refused to sell Watson .22-caliber Ruger rifle on Feb. 24. The suit says Grants Pass Walmart in Oregon refused to sell him a gun on March 3.

Watson's attorney, Max Whittington, made it clear that his client was not looking for notoriety by filing a lawsuit, saying he "was really just trying to buy a rifle."

Watson is asking for judges to force Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart "to stop unlawfully discriminating against 18, 19, and 20-year-old customers at all Oregon locations."

Dick's didn't respond to requests for comment but Walmart intends to fight the suit.

"We stand behind our decision and plan to defend it," the Walmart virtue-signaler said. "While we haven't seen the complaint, we will respond as appropriate with the court."

I think if Christians can be forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding, selling a rifle to an 18-year-old is a no brainer. In the first case, a person's religious beliefs are being abused by the buyer; in the second case, the buyer's rights are being abused



Tweet

Dick's losing customers

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. is like the Starbucks of sporting goods stores. They have to throw out their uninformed opinion about gun control and don't know what they're talking about.

They say their decision to not sell firearms to adults under 21 years old has hurt traffic and retail sales. The decision came on the heels of the Parkland, Florida school shooting that left 17 people dead.

Customers are upset, especially those who know that most mass shooters are over 21 and the latest school shooter, who was 19, was on law enforcement radar multiple times as well as mental health radar, but the warnings were ignored.

So Dick's tried to virtue signal by raising the age to 21, while federal law makes it 18 years of age. 

Walmart is doing the same.

Dick's said it was surprised by the "outpouring of support" by ignorant people who don't wait for the victims to be buried before calling for more gun control.

Ask Chicago about gun control. Ask Detroit.

"Some of those customers that buy firearms, buy other things also," Dick's Chief Executive Edward Stack figured out all by himself. "There are just going to be some people who just don't shop us anymore for anything."

Let's hope so. Any establishment that goes against the Second Amendment should lose business.

Initially, President Trump almost took the bait, but now the administration is exploring actual efficacious ways to lessen gun violence. Stop and frisk is one step, and arming trained teachers and school staff is another. I suspect a better data base on mental health issues and law enforcement that actually enforces the law, would reduce gun crime. Getting rid of "gun-free" (aka:"shoot me") zones would also help.

At least Dick's stupidity translated to it's market shares, which fell 2.5% midday Tuesday as they reported a sales decline of 2% in its latest quarter.

It's kind of what Starbucks did when they chose sides and became the nation's  political virtue mavens. 

Just serve the damn coffee.

Tweet

Fully semi-automatic shoulder-fired assault-style rifles still sold at Dick's

Has a camera, phone and can bake bread

Dick's Sporting Goods claims to have stopped selling the AR-15 rifle because it was the type of weapon used in the horrible Parkland, Florida mass school shooting.

By the way, the "AR" in the AR-15 stands for ArmaLite Rifle, not Assault Rifle. 

The New York Times refers to the AR-15 as the "most beloved and most vilified rifles" in the United States. But it's the villains behind the weapon that should be vilified, not the tool they use to carry out their evil, or else we'd be banning vans and trucks, knives and hammers and Louisville Sluggers.

But this is precisely why The New York Times sucks--they blame the weapon, not the villains.

Dick's however, continues to sell fully semi-automatic shoulder fired assault type rifles such as the Marlin Model 60 semi-automatic rifle, the Savage Arms 64-F semi-automatic rifle,  the Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic rifle, and the Remington 597 semi-automatic rifle.

Just like the AR-15 but not as scary looking to liberals.

The term "fully semi-automatic" is a liberal smokescreen to trick people who don't know better (aka liberals). And basically all rifles are shoulder-fired.

A weapon is either a semi-automatic, an automatic, a bolt action, pump action, or lever action. Even revolvers and handguns generally fall into the category of semi-automatic because when you fire a round with the pull of the trigger, the next round chambers, but the trigger must be pressed again for the next round to be fired. 

An automatic, such as a machine gun, fires round after round with one pull of the trigger and continues until the trigger is let go or the magazine of rounds empties. The M-14, used in Vietnam before the M-16 took over, fired both semi automatic and automatic with the use of a selector switch.

Interestingly, the lever action Winchester 70 was used as a sniper rifle in Vietnam, so that would make it an assault rifle since it was used by the military.

So don't let the liberals try to take the moral high ground or virtue signal. They don't know what they're talking about regarding firearms.




Tweet