Posted on 04/11/2006 2:13:59 PM PDT by tarawa
Arkansas Sportsman : Mystery of missing Wal-Mart firearms continues Bryan Hendricks
As of March, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, no longer sells firearms in about 1,000 of its stores nationwide.
One of those “firearms free” zones is the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Sheridan, a small town located in the heart of Arkansas’ deer hunting country. I visited the Sheridan Wal-Mart recently, and as always, stopped by the sporting goods department. No shotguns or rifles were for sale, and no display racks were present. Ammunition, however, was abundant.
An associate at the store informed me of this new policy. This person said that the Sheridan Wal-Mart sold more than $47,000 worth of firearms in 2005, but that the federal government had levied substantial fines on the company because of improperly completed federal firearms transfer forms. Anyone who buys a firearm from a licensed dealer must fill out the familiar “yellow form” and submit to a background check before the seller can transfer the firearm to the buyer. The official reason firearm sales would be discontinued, my source said, is because firearms are “not in high demand among the customers in that community.”
“Firearms are not in demand in Sheridan, Arkansas?” I asked. “This community lives and breathes hunting.”
My source shrugged and said, “You’re preaching to the choir. Thing is, all they’re doing is funneling those customers to other stores in Little Rock, Benton or Hot Springs.”
In other words, Wal-Mart has made its Sheridan store irrelevant to a significant portion of its customers in that community.
To get more information, I called Jolanda Stewart, a spokesman at Wal-Mart’s Corporate Communications department in Bentonville.
“We are scaling back in communities where that particular product is not relevant,” Stewart said.
“How did Wal-Mart determine that rifles and shotguns are not relevant in a community like Sheridan, where hunting is an integral part of the community’s identity?” I asked.
“Who are you, and who do you write for again?” she said. “Did you get your information from a manager?”
I made two other phone calls to Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters that day, but neither was returned.
My next call was to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, where I talked to Christopher Dolnack, senior vice president of communications. Dolnack said he had heard that firearms were no longer available at some stores, but that he wasn’t aware of a formal change in company policy to that effect.
“One thing about Wal-Mart is that they’re known for being nimble,” Dolnack said. “If they decide to implement any decision nationwide, they would do it very quickly. I’m not aware of any decision to exit the firearms category nationwide, but I am aware that a number of stores nationwide no longer offer firearms.”
My next call was to the National Rifle Association, where I spoke with Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs. He had not heard of this development, but he was very curious. He said he would circulate an email around the NRA and see if there was a response. A couple of hours later, he called and gave me the phone number of Ray Bracy, Wal-Mart’s vice president of corporate affairs. “He’s very eager to talk to you,” Arulanandam said.
“There’s nothing to that rumor [that Wal-Mart is exiting the firearms business],” Bracy said. “There’s a slight misunderstanding in this area. If you go to stores around the country, you’ll see that we are trying to make them stores of the community, where merchandise is more appropriate and relevant to the local community. Some stores are not selling guns. Consumers are not buying guns in relation to floor space and the layout of the floor. It’s not just guns, but crafts and arts materials.”
In all Wal-Mart stores, firearms are displayed either in a small rack behind the sporting goods counter, or in two rotating, Plexiglass kiosks on both sides of the sporting goods counter. The rack is elevated and occupies no floor space. The kiosks are only about 3 feet in diameter, so they have a very small footprint.
“In urban stores and suburban stores across the U.S., the volume of guns [sold] is nonexistent or negligible,” Bracy said, “so we’ll be moving [guns] out of those stores.”
Sheridan is a small, rural town, though. It is neither urban nor suburban by any definition.
“I’m not familiar about the store in Sheridan,” Bracy said. “One of the things we’re going through in determining what is right for the community, if that’s deer country and local shoppers depend on them, we’ll carry them. That is our intent.”
What role do “yellow form” compliance issues play in such decisions?
“I’m not sure I can talk to specifics of individual stores, but we do have situations where they have not complied,” Bracy said. “We’re working hard on systems approaches, to foolproof that system so we can comply.”
My core question is whether Wal-Mart has succumbed to pressure from gun-control or firearms abolition advocates.
“There is no ideological change [in corporate philosophy],” Bracy said. “We know the core of our customers are outdoorsmen, and we’re going to continue to serve those people.”
Just not in Sheridan.
Sounds the BATFE is off the reservation... again. Their Jihad against the second amendment continues.
There are problems getting fishing licenses from them now too.
For a while our local Wal-Mart quit carrying firearms, but they started back up about a year ago.
Agreed. In full. With applause.
Buy from folks who know firearms. Big box discounters are great at selling cheap toilet paper and frozen peas, but the folks who work in those stores rarely, if ever, know beans about guns.
Realistically, Wal-Marts in very gun-friendly areas probably have serious competition from small private gun dealers, and that's not a bad thing. I'd hate for an independent dealer to get driven out of business by a Wal-Mart, because when the chips are down, it's the independent dealers who will stand up for the RKBA. Big publicly traded corporations will be the first to comply with any government gun-grabbing demand, no matter how blatantly unconstitutional.
Agreed. I just bought my first firearms -- Remington 870 and S&W 9mm -- from a local sporting shop that has been around for a long time and has a good reputation for quality. The guys there were very knowledgeable, patient, and answered every question I had. I doubt I'd get that level of experience at Walmart.
The shop I worked in New Jersey and the one in Florida where I am now both used one employee to check the 4473 while the customer was there, then another employee reviewed the form later.
BATFE gets very serious about sloppy paperwork, and I can't say that I blame them. We all know the laws, like them or not (I don't) we agree to abide by them. Messed up records indicate two things: first, the dealer isn't paying attention. If he can't comply with simple requests on a form, how does he know who bought the things?
Second, if he doesn't care about the records, knowing full well that he will be audited by BATFE, what else is he up to? The criminal mind often does not ride the elevator to the top floor.
Its still free to fish in salt water in New Jersey, isn't it?
Nevertheless, I find it is worth it to pay the extra $1.50 for 00 buckshot and .40 S&W at an independent store, where they KNOW what they are talking about and where I don't have to shove my way through Tweakers, Illegal Aliens, and women with five kids and two black eyes.
Free as in, needing a license? I don't think you need a salt water license yet. Trout fishing seems to be an added feature on the license though.
For my entire life, I NEVER needed a license for fishing in the ocean. Then I moved to Florida, where, one day, I was confronted by a game warden while fishing for Grouper off of one of the causeways.
ABC radio news said today that Walmart is replacing all guns with fishing and exercise stuff.
no reasons stated as to why and I doubt they'll come out and say "we want don't want to piss of the Brady Bunch".
Actually, ABC Radio News just said that the change is to lure more "upscale" shoppers to the stores.
I guess having guns on the premises is too "redneck" for Grey Poupon eaters (who don't shop at Wal-Mart anyway)
I don't see alot of fitness buffs in Walmart either and I'm guessing most who fish ,also hunt and may take their business elsewhere.
I don't shop much at Wal Mart as I don't have one local.
Fred Myers still have their gun displays.
Wal Mart will probably reconsider this as they lose customers (anybody remember K-Mart shooting themselves in the foot by pulling guns and ammo from their shelves? [pun intended])
This article from Forbes shows the linkage along the distribution chain so far.
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