More vendors distance themselves from Dick’s Sporting Goods over anti-gun moves

Dick’s Sporting Goods enacted a multitude of anti-gun policies including the hiring of several anti-gun lobbyists and those moves have caused many in the gun and hunting industry to cut ties and/or distance themselves from the troubled retailer.

Last week, Springfield Armory cut ties with Dick’s Sporting Goods and because Dick’s owns the Field & Stream stores, Springfield firearms and accessories will no longer be sold there. While Dick’s owns the F&S stores, it licensed the name from the magazine company – which Field & Stream magazine made extra clear Wednesday to hopefully avoid a mass subscription cancelation by those who might think they are linked.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry’s largest trade group, revoked Dick’s membership citing the hiring of three anti-gun lobbyists as the reason.

Now Mossberg, formally O.F. Mossberg & Sons, has ended their relationship with Dick’s and Field & Stream retail stores.

O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc., a leading American firearms manufacturer, announced today its decision to discontinue selling products to Dick’s Sporting Goods, and its subsidiary, Field & Stream, in response to their hiring of gun control lobbyists in April 2018.

Effective immediately, O.F. Mossberg & Sons will not accept any future orders from Dick’s Sporting Goods or Field & Stream, and is in the process of evaluating current contractual agreements.

“It has come to our attention that Dick’s Sporting Goods recently hired lobbyists on Capitol Hill to promote additional gun control.” said Iver Mossberg, Chief Executive Officer of O.F. Mossberg & Sons. “Make no mistake, Mossberg is a staunch supporter of the U.S. Constitution and our Second Amendment rights, and we fully disagree with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent anti-Second Amendment actions.”

Springfield and Mossberg are two powerhouses in the firearms industry. It is likely that Colt, Remington, Ruger and others will soon also end their selling relationship with a company that bought lobbyists to pressure Congress into implementing anti-Second Amendment laws.

Prior to hiring the lobbyists, Dick’s banned the sale of semi-automatic modern sporting rifles and their standard magazines, prohibited anyone under 21 from buying a rifle or shotgun and announced the destruction of its inventory of AR-15’s. The sporting goods retailer has killed their relationship with hunters, competitive shooters and firearms enthusiasts of every kind. But, it appears that they expected it.

“There’s going to be some pushback and we expected that,” said CEO Edward Stack, in an earnings call with Wall Street analysts, according to CNN. “There are going to be the people who don’t shop us anymore for anything.”

Whether Dick’s expected the fallout to spill over into the vendor space is unknown and it is only going to get worse.

If you buy anything from Dick’s Sporting Goods or Field & Stream stores (not the magazine) you are supporting anti-gun lobbying.