Major gun maker and organization drops Dick's Sporting Goods

Springfield Armory and NSSF have dropped Dick's Sporting Goods and its Field & Stream subsidiary, from its ranks. Photo by author

Springfield Armory, the maker of fine rifles and handguns, has announced it is severing ties with Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary, Field & Stream, in response to their hiring a group for anti-Second Amendment lobbying. 

This latest action follows Dick’s Sporting Goods’ decision to remove and destroy all modern sporting rifles (MSR) from their inventory. In addition, they have denied Second Amendment rights to Americans under the age of 21. 

We at Springfield Armory believe that all law abiding American citizens of adult age are guaranteed this sacred right under our Constitution, wrote Springfield Armory in their press release. 

It’s clear where Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary, Field & Stream, stand on the Second Amendment, and we want to be clear about our message in response. Their position runs counter to what we stand for as a company. At Springfield Armory, we believe in the right and principles fought for and secured by American patriots and our founding forefathers, without question. We will not accept Dick’s Sporting Goods’ continued attempts to deny Second Amendment freedoms to our fellow Americans. 

Springfield Armory is not the only entity that has severed ties with Dick’s. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, announced that its Board of Governors unanimously voted to expel Dick’s Sporting Goods from membership for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation. 

NSSF has also pointed to Dick’s hiring a Washington D.C.-based government affairs firm for lobbying, related to gun control and their destruction of modern sporting rifles that the press and politicians wrongly refer to as assault rifles. As informed firearms owners know, the letters AR doesn’t mean assault rifles, but Armalite Rifle, the company who pioneered the compact rifle before others.  

As the primary voting season draws near, almost every TV channel is running ads from politicians who are running for congress, senate and other positions, and who are all claiming that when they get in office, will strive to ban AR’s, high capacity magazines, more background checks and will bump the age limit to 21 to buy any firearm, even BB guns. 

In regards to the latter, I remember as a kid riding my bicycle from my parents’ home in Whitehall to Hess’s in Allentown to buy a CO2 powered Healthways Plainsman 175 BB pistol that my cousin had, so I wanted one too. In fact, I still have it, unfortunately it no longer works.   
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