Dick’s, Cabela’s, others reconsider sales of Sandy Hook gun

Several major firearms retailers are rethinking sales strategies for the rifle said to be used in Friday’s massacre in Connecticut.

Cabela’s, an outdoor products retailer, was still offering Bushmaster AR-15 rifles for between $730 and $1,040 each on its website. But the sale page notes that the firearm is not available for sale at the company’s Connecticut store.

Dick’s Sporting Goods said in a statement that it removed all guns from its store near Newtown “out of respect for the victims and their families” and suspended sales of modern sporting rifles in all its stores nationwide.

Last month, when revealing earnings for Dick’s third quarter, Chief Executive Edward Stack said that gun sales “have spiked since the election.”

“We expect that the gun and ammunition business will move to be a slightly bigger part of our business going forward and that will help the earnings,” he said in a conference call with analysts.

Wal-Mart, which sells guns from the Bushmaster line at about 1,700 stores nationwide, pulled the information page for the brand’s Patrolman’s Carbine M4A3 rifle from its website Monday, according to the Nation publication.

In a statement, the company said it remains “dedicated to the safe and responsible sale of firearms in areas of the country where they are sold.”

“We did have an information page on Walmart.com regarding this model of gun that was taken down in light of the tragic events, but this product was never available for purchase on the website,” said spokesman Kory Lundberg.

Gun sales seemed to be rising before the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. More women were picking up firearms, manufacturers were unveiling new innovations and Wall Street had embraced weapons makers’ stocks.

But on Tuesday, the share prices for public firearms producers such as Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger continued to dive.

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