Social Justice Warriors, Rejoice!

There are more than 100 million gun owners in America.  Nearly one-third of our entire population owns guns.

That number increases by more than 2 million guns per month, no doubt fueled by the increasing attempts by some on the "Left" to reduce or entirely eliminate America's 2nd Amendment Rights (Source:  NICS FBI Background Check Data, April, 2019).

37% of all households claim gun ownership.  That's 47% of Republican households, and just under 17% of Democrats (and that's perhaps a part of the core problem!)  

One of those (illegal) gun owners shot up Odessa, Texas a couple of days back.  It was a running gun battle, over two towns and 20 miles.  The perp killed 7 and wounded more than 20 others.  No rhyme nor reason to the time or location of the attack, or the choice of victims.  Word has it he was fired from his job earlier that day.  And that he'd evidenced multiple clues as to his mental instability in the days leading up to this shooting.  But the facts are, he just went nuts and started shooting.

And Oh By The Way, the killer obtained his AR-style rifle illegally from a friend after having failed to pass a Federal NICS-System background check.  In other words, the law worked; but the criminal broke the law.  Ummm, Hello!  That's what criminals do.  They break the laws.  Often...

Notably, 99,999,999 other American gun owners had nothing at all to do with this carnage.  Nothing.  At.  All.

Yet, every single Democrat candidate for POTUS 2020, and a raft of Hollywood celebs, and scads of Liberal politicians, and nearly all MainStreamMedia blow-dried talking head-types, called for all these same innocent gun owners to be punished by the imposition of new and even more restrictive background checks.  And forced "buy-backs" of certain types of weapons.  And lots and lots of new and "improved" laws to prevent a recurrence of this horrific event.

In other words, even though there are currently some 25,000 gun control laws on America's books, which criminals violate each and every day, the admonition is to "Do something!"  Even, it appears, if that "something" is wrong...

And in their own rather peculiar response to their Liberal board members and stockholders, the management of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club (same corporation) just announced that they will fight this scourge of gun crime by ceasing the sale of all handguns, all pistol ammunition, all short-barrel rifles, and all ammunition commonly used by AR-style rifles.  Oh yeah, but only after they've sold out of their current stock (not toooo aggrieved, are we?).  Annnnnd, they added this kicker; no more open-carry of firearms in their stores, even if those stores are located in states that permit open-carry (interestingly, they'll continue to permit concealed carry, perhaps because, without installing magnetometers, they cannot reasonably prohibit it).

And magnetometers are expensive...

Of interest, Wal-Mart/Sam's has bragged in the past that it enjoys a huge 20% share of all ammunition sales nationwide.  That's likely true because they systematically located their stores in previously underserved areas where only minimal competition was present.  And then they obliterated that competition through predatory pricing until they were the only game in town.  Or, in most instances, the only game in the entire county.  Imagine just learning that Wal-Mart is discontinuing gun and ammo sales in towns like Kodiak, Alaska, where they are the only source of both within hundreds of miles.

The availability of large-caliber handguns and the ammo they require at Wal-Mart is currently the only thing keeping residents of Kodiak from seeing the inside of gigantic Brown Bears, which can grow up to 13 feet tall...
  
And, Wal/Sam's Boards admits this action is likely to reduce that commanding percentage of ammo sales to just 6 - 9% after the dust settles (I predict less).  In other words, after having used their enormous buying power and saturation predatory pricing to put competitors out of business over the decades, they are now ceding that business back to those they have so rudely screwed.  Interesting, don't you think?

Having had the opportunity to observe the circle-jerk undertaken by Dick's Sporting Goods of late, which just banned the sale of all firearms, and took a huge $150 Million stock write-down as a result, Wal-Mart/Sam's shows us it's excited to now tread down this same self-destructive path in an effort to gain acceptance by the Social Justice Warriors among us.

Good luck on that one...

So some jerk attacks a Wal-Mart full of shoppers in El Paso awhile back, killing 7 and wounding more than 20 others.  Wal-Mart's response is to disarm all their shoppers in all their stores in all the states so that if this happens again, there will be no way for their customers to defend themselves against a future onslaught.  Hmmmmm.  Closing that barn door after all the horses have escaped, are we?

So one-third of the population, which had no part in the last - or any - mass shooting, is being punished by the Largest Corporation on Earth.  Even if many - even most - of this vast group of like-minded folks choose not to retaliate against the Wal-Marts and the Sam's Clubs of America, I believe many will.  Very many.  Myself included.  

What's that sound we hear?  Oh yeah, it's the turnstyles turning at your local gun store, where lots and lots of new guns are flying out the door.  And those customers will be giving Wal-Mart and Sam's the finger as they drive away.  

Maybe one of them will be used to protect a Sam's customer who can no longer protect himself...

Question:  Do you think this decision by a corporation to openly operate against the guarantees afforded by our Bill of Rights will have any affect on their future sales?  And if so, to what degree?