Walmart Asked To Stop Selling Firearms In Its Stores By A Petition Signed By Some 130,000 Americans

For many decades, Walmart, the largest consumer goods retailer in the United States, has sold firearms to the American public via the store’s sporting goods section, which includes basketball and baseball equipment, weights, and gear for outdoor sporting use. Walmart began selling firearms very early on in its corporate life under the leadership of Sam Walton, the founder of the company, who was a major fan of hunting for sport, shooting firearms competitively, and virtually any other safe activity that involved firearms.

Now, after several consecutive years of the United States finding itself victim to more mass shootings per annum than ever before, many people’s and businesses’ attitudes toward the open ownership of firearms has changed.

According to washingtonpost.com, the window to support a petition that calls for Walmart to cease stocking ammunition and firearms recently closed, garnering upward of 129,000 signatures from concerned Walmart employees and shoppers alike. The petition closed earlier this week and was officially published in the form of an open letter earlier today, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019.

This petition also asks Walmart to stop accepting donations from politicians who are associated with the pro-firearm National Rifle Association, as well as make it against store policy for shoppers to carry firearms into all of Walmart’s stores across the United States.

Walmart’s Chief Executive Officer, Doug McMillon, has taken the receipt of the petition quite seriously, sharing openly in a formal response earlier today that Walmart is currently taking in perspectives on the issue from all across the proverbial board. After taking in these perspectives, which McMillon and company will stop fielding soon, Walmart’s upper echelon of decision-makers will come up with a list of potential steps that the company could take. It currently isn’t clear when Walmart is expected to make a final decision regarding the petition’s requests.

Walmart currently sells firearms at roughly half of its stores, of which there are some 4,750 across the United States.

People have widely taken to social media in support of the petition, with posts using the hashtag #WalmartMustAct to get Walmart’s attention. It’s also important to note that plenty of other social media users have spoken out against the pressure now facing Walmart to restrict its association with all things firearms. People who don’t want Walmart to cave in to the petition almost entirely cite the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution as the reason for their views against the petition.