Walmart follows other retailers in announcing stricter gun sale policies

Walmart is changing its gun-purchasing policy in the wake of the deadly school shooting on Valentine’s Day in Parkland, Florida, following the lead of Dick’s Sporting Goods, which did the same thing earlier Wednesday.

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One of the nation’s largest retailers and sellers of guns and ammunition, Walmart announced it’s raising the age to buy a firearm in its stores to 21. “In light of recent events, we’ve taken an opportunity to review our policy on firearm sales,” the company said in a statement.

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Walmart said it was working to quickly update its policies to implement the change. The retailer stopped selling in 2015 what it called “modern sporting rifles,” including the AR-15, which was used in the deadly rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School exactly two weeks ago.

“We take seriously our obligation to be a responsible seller of firearms and go beyond federal law by requiring customers to pass a background check before purchasing any firearm,” Walmart officials said. The retailer is also removing items resembling assault-style rifles from its website, including non-lethal air soft guns and toys, officials said.

Dick’s Sporting Goods went a step further, announcing the company is ending sales of all assault-style rifles and is prohibiting the sale of guns to anyone under 21. The retailer also said its ending sales of high-capacity magazines.

The debate over gun control and common sense restrictions has gained momentum over the past two weeks since 17 students and teachers were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, allegedly by a 19-year-old gunman using an assault-style AR-15, the kind of weapon used to kill 58 people in a massacre at a music festival in Las Vegas last fall.

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