A major Canadian outdoor retailer has decided to one-up Dick’s Sporting Goods ban on modern sporting rifles and magazines. They’re going to ban hydration packs, binoculars, bike helmets and more from popular manufacturers because a parent company also owns a gun maker.
Mountain Equipment Co-op, known as MEC, said in a statement that it will stop carrying Vista Outdoor products. MEC sells neither firearms nor ammunition, but said it would quit selling five brands owned by Vista, including CamelBak, Bollé and Bushnell, in an effort to distance itself from a company that happens to have financial holdings in a gun manufacturing company.
That’s right, the products they are banning from their stores are not made by a firearms manufacturer. Bushnell makes optical equipment, Bolle makes outdoor sports safety gear and CamelBak makes all sorts of bottles, packs and pouches to aid outdoor-types in staying hydrated.
The Canadian company is bowing to pressure from left-wing extremists instead of allowing consumers to decide whether or not to buy those products. As CamelBak is the most well-known maker of hydration supplies for outdoor enthusiasts, those sales will move from a Canadian retailer to U.S. based Amazon.com. I’m sure Jeff Bezos won’t have any problem taking their money.
The company’s CEO, David Labistour ended the official statement with an odd, almost apologetically weasel-worded note:
On a very personal note, many of us come from parts of the world where we have witnessed the use and impact of guns first-hand,” Labistour wrote. “I include myself in that community. I have proudly served in the military and grew up in a rural area where hunting was commonplace. I can readily identify with our members who are on all sides of this debate.
Yeah, whatever dude.
Vista owns around 50 different brands including Bell Helmets, Copilot, Camp Chef, JimmyStyks and other outdoor gear makers and of course – Savage Arms.
Savage specializes in and is best known for its bolt action hunting rifles and target rifles, but to the objection of MEC, they also produce a small line of modern sporting rifles based on the AR-15 platform.
If hunters think that the left-wing extremists will stop with AR-15’s, know that they’re coming for companies that don’t even specialize in MSR’s and your favorite gun-maker could be next.
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