Some dealers now gun-shy over assault rifles

A page from Walmart's web site promoting a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle. / CBS News

NEW YORK In the wake of last Friday's mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and the outpouring of grief for the victims, some gun dealers have stopped promoting the sale of assault rifles online, or are even pulling them from store shelves.

What CBS News senior correspondent John Miller referred to as "a backlash" on the sale of assault rifles has been detected among some of the nation's biggest gun dealers.

This, as sales of guns have reportedly spiked since last Friday, attributed to "panic buyers" fearful of new legislation restricting the sale of semi-automatic rifles or ammunition in response to the tragedy.

• Popular AR-15 rifle at center of gun control debate
• NRA falls silent after Conn. school carnage

Walmart, the nation's largest retailer of firearms, on Monday pulled the Bushmaster assault rifle - the same model used by Adam Lanza to kill 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School - from its website (although there are a few other model assault rifles advertised, including the Colt LE6920 Carbine).

The chain Dick's Sporting Goods has blocked access to its online pages advertising semi-automatic weapons. The site's "modern sporting rifles" page now comes up blank, and searches for items such as "Smith & Wesson," "Sig Sauer" or "assault rifle" will not show semi-automatic rifles.

The website for Dick's Sporting Goods is no longer promoting semi-automatic rifles; pages advertising AR-15-style weapons are now blank.

/ CBS News

The company, which operates 511 stores in 44 states, also said it has pulled semi-automatic rifles from store shelves at all of its locations.

The company's store nearest to Newtown, Conn. -- in Danbury -- has also stopped displaying and selling all guns.

In a statement the chain said, "We are extremely saddened by the unspeakable tragedy that occurred last week in Newtown, CT, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families, and to the entire community."

Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management also said it is planning to sell its stake in Freedom Group, maker of the Bushmaster rifle.

A new CBS News poll released Monday shows support for stricter gun control laws is now the highest it's been in a decade, and has surged 18 points since last spring.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans now say gun control laws should be made more strict, according to the poll conducted Dec. 14 - 16.

[mkt1111]

Petition to research real solutions to the problem instead of reactionary legislation: http://wh.gov/nOfr

[jwilliams1959]

Protecting the Innocent!
Because of recent horrific events at the school in Newtown Connecticut many people want something done about the issue of criminals and mentally ill people being able to massacre innocent people so effortlessly. Unfortunately the criminals and mentally ill people's choice of weapons just happens to be guns. This drives anti gun people to be even more anti gun and drives some neutral people towards being anti gun. It even makes gun owners like myself stop and reevaluate everything! After giving the matter much thought I believe we can turn this around, but not by sitting back and waiting to do damage control and not by getting ahead of ourselves and piling on a lot of new gun control laws that take away an individual's rights. Think about it, only law abiding citizens obey the laws! Yes we need to take affirmative action! So let's all work together in finding a solution to this problem! I propose that we start by creating a national school guard program having at least one paid armed and trained guard and one volunteer armed and trained guard at every school. The, Protecting the Innocent National School Guard Program. There are a lot of unemployed people who need jobs and would qualify for this job. Returning war veterans who need a job would surely qualify. We could supplement the one paid armed guard at schools with a volunteer guard by using parents, grandparent's stay at home moms and dads etc. Paid guards would wear uniforms to let people know that there is someone there for their protection and to show the criminals and mentally ill with bad intentions that they can no longer freely execute their horrid spineless acts of terror at our nations expense! Meanwhile the volunteer guards could wear civilian clothes and carry concealed weapons putting them in more of a undercover mode. I believe a lot of gun owners would definitely volunteer. I know I would! Guards could be armed with weapons donated by gun manufacturers. I'm sure the guns donated could be used as a tax write off, not to mention how invaluable the donations would be towards protecting the innocent! Both paid and volunteer guards could be trained properly with free classes given by the NRA and local gun shops. Volunteers from the gun owner's community can also be used to give some of this training. Classes could include safety training, weapons handling, shooting and basic weapons courses. Gun clubs and ranges could offer some free range time for both the paid and volunteer guards. The free training could also include free concealed weapon permit training for school guard volunteers. This would be an incentive for people who were thinking about buying a gun to go ahead and buy that gun and an incentive to volunteer for the guard program. President Obama on the Whitehouse website has demonstrated how he has done some creative financing to pay for special programs. I'm sure he would be glad to help in finding a way to help pay for the paid armed guards! He could also give tax breaks as incentives to people for buying gun safes and lockable gun storage. This would help to ensure gun owners keep their firearms safe and secure. Some of the schools where I live already have police in them. This national school guard program would free those officers up so they could be used at malls and movie theaters. There are many more possibilities! The bottom line is, everyone is made safer, Second Amendment rights are protected, jobs are created, people become more knowledgeable about firearms and less intimidated, and more people become gun owners, everyone wins! Let's face it there is no amount of gun control or gun laws that will stop a criminal or mentally ill person from killing innocent people! Gun laws only affect people who obey the law. Criminals don't obey the law! Even without guns there are plenty of other weapons for criminals to choose from. The national school guard program will avert criminals no matter what weapons may they have. Why should law abiding gun owners and innocent people suffer? I believe a national school guard program sponsored by the NRA would be a much needed deterrent to criminals and mentally ill persons contemplating something like what happened in Newtown Connecticut! Everyone may not like this idea. This is just one proposal. Those who don't want armed guards at their schools can always opt out and keep their gun free zones! It could be their loss!

[joesapper]

Well I have only heard today that infact sale applications for ar15 type arms have jumped in recent days , with more than 55,000 applications for purchase in California alone , this is to my surprise , but can anyone give an average age for the applications for the purchase of this weapon ?

Geting beyond this , I find it more than reasonable that at least three factors are being considered for the assault weapon topic ,
1} Mental Health
2} The harsh violent games that consume the hours of many.
3} The weapon , and the desire or the attraction to the weapon by youth , and of course I am only refering to a high velocity 223 ar15 assault type weapon or higher caliber .
If these are the topics than I think America will be served rather than a political point of view , all three topics are needed to secure a program for the protection of all Americans .

[MOTOFISH94]

Tell me again how a shooting involving 2 hand guns sparks this uprise against "Assault Rifles". Is it because of the unused Rifle found in the car? Or is it because everyone wants to point fingers and cannot accept the fact that some coward commited 28 horrific murders!!!

Educate Yourselves:

http://www.armywtfmoments.com/assault-rifles-vs-rifles-explained

[FredNads]

My AR-15 and thousands of others did not kill anyone on Friday. Neither did 64 million other gun owners.

[signseeker1717]

It isn't just this ONE event (although the massacre of six year olds SHOULD be enough) or ONLY the firearm used that is outraging people; this is just the most RECENT in a long string of MASS KILLINGS: malls, high schools, colleage campuses, theaters, almost EVERYWHERE now. People are FED UP; worldwide, only PAKISTAN has worse gun violence than America. It's LONG past time to looks at ways to stop the PATTERN of this behavior.

[joesapper]

Well perhaps if the USA leadership had the success of Walmart , we would not be facing the failures of Libya , or the Fast & Furious Gun scandal nor would the USA economy be subject to debts in the trillions , so if a major USA success story like Walmart backs away from from assault type weapons , it is only due do to careful consideration of the mindset of the majority of Americans , if the voice of now and the foreseeable future of America rejects assault type weapons than , those that go against the wishes of the majority will only acquire the funds of a few , while major outlets like Walmart are always balancing core values with the trend of the American shopper to sell the goods to meet the wishes and demands the client.
The writing is on the Wal-Smart of the informed business mind , and is it clear that if I were placing a bet or a vote on the future of assault weapons sales , I would it is very limited at best amongst the public sector .
There is a whole other consideration of upgrades one can purchase to turn a reasonable looking sporting long gun into an assault type weapon , so I will not even begin to peel the back the hoards of produts and layers of pages on this factor of concern .
Often times the most dangerous weapons are those that have been converted .

[achememnon]

And Obama gave them some retaliation with the taking down of Bin Ladin.

[FredNads]

@ACHEMEMNON I thought that looked an awful like Obama on that rappel rope!!!

[cntrygirl3]

These are large retailers with guns as a small part of their business. But the gun shops that are in the business will be ordering double. They have already been doing extremely brisk sales because of the reelection of President Obama will now see sales go thru the roof on assault guns and high volume magazines after all cannot be caught short. I cannot imagine these as hunting rifles, if you need 30 rounds to kill a deer you shouldn't have a gun.

[rwsmith29456]

I don't think 30 round magazines are necessary but I know people that live in big bear country and wouldn't be caught without something powerful and capable of multiple shots.

[ParadoxisOK]

w8qf ---Wasting a reply to you. You are a waste of my time.

[bluejacket2-2009]

Small mom and pop shops that still sell these deadly assualt rifles to make a quick buck should advertise them as the kid killers, buy one get one free.. the NRA will love it!

[logictoo]

Do you jest or are you trying to get a rise out of intelligent freedom loving Americans? I must assume you did not serve your six year military obligation to your country. If you did you would not be so mis-informed concerning assault rifles especially the AR15.

[signseeker1717]

There is no "six year military obligation"; there's no draft. And there are plenty of "intelligent freedom-loving" Americans who didn't volunteer or weren't accepted for a variety of reasons. You may think the above post cruel and inappropriate, as I do, but "military obligation" is no rebuttal.

[sandy 1027]

What Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, and others have done is commendable.While we have a Constitutional right to bear arms,no right is absolute.The primary purpose of these weapons is to kill a lot of people quickly; and in a civilized society ( if we are to keep it that way),these deadly weapons shouldn't be glorified, nor thought of as the latest cool toy that I get like it's some technological gadget.

[sandy 1027]

What Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods, and others have done is commendable.While we have a Constitutional right to bear arms,no right is absolute.The primary purpose of these weapons is to kill a lot of people quickly; and in a civilized society ( if we are to keep it that way),these deadly weapons shouldn't be glorified, nor thought of as the latest cool toy that I get like it's some technological gadget.