BANGOR, Maine — Dick’s Sporting Goods has pulled “modern sporting rifles” from its shelves in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Dick’s has four locations in Maine: Bangor, Portland, Augusta and Topsham.
A statement posted on the company’s website said that “during this time of national mourning,” it had removed all guns from its store nearest to Newtown and “suspended the sale of modern sporting rifles in all of our stores chainwide.”
On Dec. 14, a gunman broke into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and killed 26 people, including 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. His weapons were a .223-caliber Bushmaster assault rifle, and two handguns: a 9 mm Sig Sauer and a 10 mm Glock.
The statement from Dick’s did not specify how long the sale of modern sporting rifles would be suspended.
A manager at the Dick’s location in Bangor, when reached on the phone, would not confirm or comment on whether rifles were still for sale at its location at 641 Stillwater Ave. The manager referred all questions to the company’s media relations department. The manager of the Portland location also directed all inquiries to corporate headquarters.
A call and email to the media relations department at the company’s Pittsburgh headquarters were not returned as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Dick’s made the decision after reports that investigators were trying to determine if the suspect in the Newtown shooting attempted to purchase a weapon at its store in Danbury, Conn., which is about 12 miles away from Newtown, according to a TV station in Los Angeles.
“At this time, reports that the suspect visited one of our stores last week have not been confirmed by law enforcement,” Dick’s said in statement to KTLA 5. “Based on our records, we can confirm that no firearms were sold to the suspect identified in this case.”
Dick’s, which operates 511 stores in 44 states, isn’t the only major retailer to respond to the massacre in Newtown. On Monday, The Nation reported that Walmart had pulled from its shelves and website a Bushmaster assault rifle similar to the one used in Newtown.
In addition, Cerberus Capital Management, the hedge fund that owns the company that manufactured the Bushmaster assault rifle used in the shooting, on Tuesday said it would sell its investment in the company.
Bushmaster Firearms was originally a company based in Windham, Maine. Cerberus acquired the company in 2006 and bundled it with other firearm manufacturers under the umbrella of Freedom Group. Madison, N.C.-based Freedom Group closed the Bushmaster facility in Windham in early 2011, laying off its 73 employees, and moved the manufacturing to its other facilities.
Wow. Let’s not be afraid to over react or anything.
Knee jerk, feel good maneuver, just like the feds will do.
Cerberus…Three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell, and, coincidentally, Satan’s best friend. Irony
Wha? Cerberus and Satan aren’t even from the same mythology. Cerby’s ancient Greek, Satan comes from who even knows any more – somewhere in the absurdly complicated and murky origins of the Abrahamic traditions, probably co-opted from still older Middle Eastern belief systems. Zoroastrianism, maybe, or something the Sumerians worshipped. They’re not from the same part of the world or the same time period. It’s like saying Bert’s best friend on Sesame Street was Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. :)
Cerberus is also the company that owned Chrysler when it went bankrupt and needed the bailout
Call and voice your opinion….I did. The Bangor store manager was more than helpful and gave me the corporate number so I could let them know I was disappointed in their decision. While what happened in CT is nothing I would ever want to see again, this company’s decision is consequating the rest of us law-abiding citizens. I guess I will shop elsewhere, now, for ALL my sporting-good needs.
They may end up having to close some stores considering the business they will lose because of the ridiculous decision they have made.
they may actually pick up more business because of it – they do sell other items.
The point is many people will no longer purchase those other things from them.
some people will boycott, usually happens with decisions like this – others will stay, and some will start going there. It will probably even out – or not cause much loss in sales.
I visited a Dick’s in Erie Pa this and looked at one of these guns. The employee was very helpful, so much that he even instructed me on how I could modify the gun to e a semi auto gun.Maybe they need to re train their employees as well.
To the two pepole so far who gave the above comment a thumbs-down: The rifle IS a semiautomatic. All semiautomatic means is you don’t need to reload the chamber manually after each shot, but you still have to release and pull again on the trigger. An automatic, on the other hand, requires only that you pull the trigger once and keep it pulled to continue firing.
They are semi-auti already so you don’t know what you’re talking about!
Ok. Sooo sorry for getting it wrong. Please forgive me. Let me correct my earlier statement, The store employee instructed me on how to make in an AUTOMATIC by installing a spring kit that could be purchased online. Again soooo sorry for getting it wrong. So I am human after all. Not a gun person so I made a mistake.
would rather give my business to a mom and pop gunstore anyway!
I use to shop their, not anymore
Jed – USED to shop THERE. Thanks.
Ridiculous.
WOW stupidity at it’s best. The reaction of the liberal is to punish the law abiding citizens because of the actions of a criminal who STOLE firearms MURDERED his mother STOLE her car drove to a “GUN FREE ZONE” aka school and proceeded to MURDER 20 TWENTY kids and 6 SIX adults. The liberal solution is to ban the weapon the bad guy STOLE from being sold to law abiding citizens? Sure that sounds right..
Who is punishing you?
The rifle was found in the car and was not used in the shooting. So why the big deal with the rifle?..
The authorities later found an AR-15 with the gunman, and the coroner discovered .223 bullets in the bodies.
wrong
” On Monday, The Nation reported that Walmart had pulled from its shelves and website a Bushmaster assault rifle similar to the one used in Newtown.”
Would it have cost too much for the paper to send the reporter to the local Walmarts to verify this?
Corporations are people, my friend. And, just as bars can be sued for serving drinks to people who go out and kill someone while drunk, perhaps businesses will find themselves being sued by the families of people killed by the weapons the businesses have sold.
Perhaps it will be possible to bring criminal charges against the weapons manufacturers, as well. Including their CEOs. You can’t put a corporation in jail, but you could arrest its CEOs. That would be a nice start.
“Corporations are people, my friend.”
Glad you agree with the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case…
“Perhaps it will be possible to bring criminal charges against the weapons manufacturers, as well.”
For what? Manufacture of an item which the Constitution establishes as a right for US citizens? Really.
We can bring charges against bartenders who serve people who go out and kill people,even though the sale of alcoholic beverages is legal. We could bring charges against a sporting goods store that sold weapons used to slaughter people, even though the sale of murder weapons is legal. Perhaps that could be extended to CEOs who manufacture weapons that are obviously intended to be used to kill people.
No hunter needs an arsenal of major weapons, until the day Bambi starts shooting back.
The constitution says only a well-regulated militia has the right to own weapons. Not a shoot-em-up rag-tag bunch of paranoid folks.
Arrest them for what?
Producing a product that is protected by the Constitution?
If you want to arrest people, arrest those who are responsible for killing thousands of babies every year through abortion!
Maybe the NRA is feeling some heat their Facebook page was down for quite some time. And Ted “the diaper” Nugent’s show on discovery channel has been canceled so that was great news. Of course he only had until May to be in jail or dead anyway. But who knows maybe the GOP is also feeling the heat as they should.
So, based on your stereotype, absolutely no democrats own guns or support the second amendment? Or its okay to own a gun as long as you are a democrat? I guess I am missing your point…
Swing and miss……….. strike one. The democrats I know don’t need to compensate for lack of size………. well you know. They also don’t feel the need to own a gun that can’t be used in hunting and target practice. Military weapons with large capacity magazines, designed to spray an area with large amounts of lead, do you really feel the need for those. What are you going to do with them other than boost your small ego and intimidate others. Of course you can claim you are in the militia, the group of granola grandpa’s that run around the woods trying to bring back their glory days of stateside service. I am a combat vet and I feel no need for an AR15, AK47, M4, Barrett or any other weapon of war. Self defense is not like being on the battlefield. I could do just as much damage to you with my .22 LR. So give me a legit reason to own these weapons of war in your home?
Well first, thank you for being so mature in your response…you really show your true colors and yet again rely on stereotypes in some sad attempt at making your argument stronger. Do you feel better now?
Personally, I have no need for a semi-automatic weapon such as the ones you listed. I have a hunting rifle, shotgun, and a handgun for personal protection–if you feel that is for me to compensate for anything, then so be it, but two I use for hunting, and the hand gun is for personal protection at home–though I shouldn’t have to explain my motives to you or anyone else.
That being said, please explain to me how an AR-15 is any different than my 30-06 semi-automatic hunting rifle. Could I not add a larger magazine, add a pistol grip, flash suppressor, and a collapsible stock and take my ‘innocent’ hunting rifle and magically make it an assault weapon? Both are semi-automatic. Both will only fire as many rounds as I pull the trigger. You could use the comparison for any caliber…anyone who is a decent shot isn’t too concerned about the size of their ammo. Going farther and modifying the AR-15 to be automatic is illegal already. So, please tell me how you will be able to stop criminals? Legal gun owners will not modify their guns to become illegal.
Responsible gun owners lock up their weapons in a safe, away from their ammunition, especially when there are children in the home…so in this case, the mother was a very irresponsible gun owner. She may have been able to prevent much of this by merely locking up her weapons and ensuring her son she was so concerned about had no idea of a combination or key.
But, I am running off topic. The guns you listed are legal, and responsible, legal gun owners will use them in a safe fashion. Most people using these types of guns are probably using them at a shooting range, because believe it or not, its okay to have fun when you shoot a gun in a safe manner. Target shooting is okay, and sometimes it is fun using a style of weapon that is a little more like what the military would use. Still, if it is a legal gun, its not going to be an automatic weapon, and once a responsible gun owner is done using the weapon, it will be locked away and only be accessible by that gun owner. There is no need or requirement to explain the need to own those guns to people like you. Its legal, its okay to own, that is all you need to be concerned with.
Personally I like the Gulf of Maine Gun shop on Rt 302 in Raymond.
Let’s do it for the children!
We must get stores to stop selling forks.
Have you seen the number of obese
kids and adults, forks must be limited, we must license their use. Fat kills
more people each year than guns, not to mention diabetics and heart attacks
brought on by fat.
Only licensed adults who are underweight should be allowed to buy potato chips, ice cream and cookies, forks and spoons must be kept out of the hands of kids. All elementary schools should be spoon and fork safe.
Come on Maine, Let’s do it for the children!
Just another reason to not shop at Dicks