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Arkansas Sportsman : Mystery of missing Wal-Mart firearms continues
Bryan Hendricks
As of March, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, no longer sells firearms in about 1,000 of its stores nationwide.
One of those “firearms free” zones is the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Sheridan, a small town located in the heart of Arkansas’ deer hunting country.
I visited the Sheridan Wal-Mart recently, and as always, stopped by the sporting goods department. No shotguns or rifles were for sale, and no display racks were present. Ammunition, however, was abundant.
An associate at the store informed me of this new policy. This person said that the Sheridan Wal-Mart sold more than $47,000 worth of firearms in 2005, but that the federal government had levied substantial fines on the company because of improperly completed federal firearms transfer forms. Anyone who buys a firearm from a licensed dealer must fill out the familiar “yellow form” and submit to a background check before the seller can transfer the firearm to the buyer. The official reason firearm sales would be discontinued, my source said, is because firearms are “not in high demand among the customers in that community.”
“Firearms are not in demand in Sheridan, Arkansas?” I asked. “This community lives and breathes hunting.”
My source shrugged and said, “You’re preaching to the choir. Thing is, all they’re doing is funneling those customers to other stores in Little Rock, Benton or Hot Springs.”
In other words, Wal-Mart has made its Sheridan store irrelevant to a significant portion of its customers in that community.
To get more information, I called Jolanda Stewart, a spokesman at Wal-Mart’s Corporate Communications department in Bentonville.
“We are scaling back in communities where that particular product is not relevant,” Stewart said.
“How did Wal-Mart determine that rifles and shotguns are not relevant in a community like Sheridan, where hunting is an integral part of the community’s identity?” I asked.
“Who are you, and who do you write for again?” she said. “Did you get your information from a manager?”
I made two other phone calls to Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters that day, but neither was returned.
My next call was to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, where I talked to Christopher Dolnack, senior vice president of communications. Dolnack said he had heard that firearms were no longer available at some stores, but that he wasn’t aware of a formal change in company policy to
that effect.
“One thing about Wal-Mart is that they’re known for being nimble,” Dolnack said. “If they decide to implement any decision nationwide, they would do it very quickly. I’m not aware of any decision to exit the firearms category nationwide, but I am aware that a number of stores nationwide no longer offer firearms.”
My next call was to the National Rifle Association, where I spoke with Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs. He had not heard of this development, but he was very curious. He said he would circulate an email around the NRA and see if there was a response. A couple of hours later, he called and gave me the phone number of Ray Bracy, Wal-Mart’s vice president of corporate affairs. “He’s very eager to talk to you,” Arulanandam said.
“There’s nothing to that rumor [that Wal-Mart is exiting the firearms business],” Bracy said. “There’s a slight misunderstanding in this area. If you go to stores around the country, you’ll see that we are trying to make them stores of the community, where merchandise is more appropriate and relevant to the local community. Some stores are not selling guns. Consumers are not buying guns in relation to floor space and the layout of the floor. It’s not just guns, but crafts and arts materials.”
In all Wal-Mart stores, firearms are displayed either in a small rack behind the sporting goods counter, or in two rotating, Plexiglass kiosks on both sides of the sporting goods counter. The rack is elevated and occupies no floor space. The kiosks are only about 3 feet in diameter, so they have a very small footprint.
“In urban stores and suburban stores across the U.S., the volume of guns [sold] is nonexistent or negligible,” Bracy said, “so we’ll be moving [guns] out of those stores.”
Sheridan is a small, rural town, though. It is neither urban nor suburban by any definition.
“I’m not familiar about the store in Sheridan,” Bracy said. “One of the things we’re going through in determining what is right for the community, if that’s deer country and local shoppers depend on them, we’ll carry them. That is our intent.”
What role do “yellow form” compliance issues play in such decisions?
“I’m not sure I can talk to specifics of individual stores, but we do have situations where they have not complied,” Bracy said. “We’re working hard on systems approaches, to foolproof that system so we can comply.”
My core question is whether Wal-Mart has succumbed to pressure from gun-control or firearms abolition advocates.
“There is no ideological change [in corporate philosophy],” Bracy said. “We know the core of our customers are outdoorsmen, and we’re going to continue to serve those people.”
Just not in Sheridan.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2006/04/09&ID=Ar04200&Section=Sports
Bryan Hendricks
As of March, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, no longer sells firearms in about 1,000 of its stores nationwide.
One of those “firearms free” zones is the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Sheridan, a small town located in the heart of Arkansas’ deer hunting country.
I visited the Sheridan Wal-Mart recently, and as always, stopped by the sporting goods department. No shotguns or rifles were for sale, and no display racks were present. Ammunition, however, was abundant.
An associate at the store informed me of this new policy. This person said that the Sheridan Wal-Mart sold more than $47,000 worth of firearms in 2005, but that the federal government had levied substantial fines on the company because of improperly completed federal firearms transfer forms. Anyone who buys a firearm from a licensed dealer must fill out the familiar “yellow form” and submit to a background check before the seller can transfer the firearm to the buyer. The official reason firearm sales would be discontinued, my source said, is because firearms are “not in high demand among the customers in that community.”
“Firearms are not in demand in Sheridan, Arkansas?” I asked. “This community lives and breathes hunting.”
My source shrugged and said, “You’re preaching to the choir. Thing is, all they’re doing is funneling those customers to other stores in Little Rock, Benton or Hot Springs.”
In other words, Wal-Mart has made its Sheridan store irrelevant to a significant portion of its customers in that community.
To get more information, I called Jolanda Stewart, a spokesman at Wal-Mart’s Corporate Communications department in Bentonville.
“We are scaling back in communities where that particular product is not relevant,” Stewart said.
“How did Wal-Mart determine that rifles and shotguns are not relevant in a community like Sheridan, where hunting is an integral part of the community’s identity?” I asked.
“Who are you, and who do you write for again?” she said. “Did you get your information from a manager?”
I made two other phone calls to Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters that day, but neither was returned.
My next call was to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, where I talked to Christopher Dolnack, senior vice president of communications. Dolnack said he had heard that firearms were no longer available at some stores, but that he wasn’t aware of a formal change in company policy to
that effect.
“One thing about Wal-Mart is that they’re known for being nimble,” Dolnack said. “If they decide to implement any decision nationwide, they would do it very quickly. I’m not aware of any decision to exit the firearms category nationwide, but I am aware that a number of stores nationwide no longer offer firearms.”
My next call was to the National Rifle Association, where I spoke with Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs. He had not heard of this development, but he was very curious. He said he would circulate an email around the NRA and see if there was a response. A couple of hours later, he called and gave me the phone number of Ray Bracy, Wal-Mart’s vice president of corporate affairs. “He’s very eager to talk to you,” Arulanandam said.
“There’s nothing to that rumor [that Wal-Mart is exiting the firearms business],” Bracy said. “There’s a slight misunderstanding in this area. If you go to stores around the country, you’ll see that we are trying to make them stores of the community, where merchandise is more appropriate and relevant to the local community. Some stores are not selling guns. Consumers are not buying guns in relation to floor space and the layout of the floor. It’s not just guns, but crafts and arts materials.”
In all Wal-Mart stores, firearms are displayed either in a small rack behind the sporting goods counter, or in two rotating, Plexiglass kiosks on both sides of the sporting goods counter. The rack is elevated and occupies no floor space. The kiosks are only about 3 feet in diameter, so they have a very small footprint.
“In urban stores and suburban stores across the U.S., the volume of guns [sold] is nonexistent or negligible,” Bracy said, “so we’ll be moving [guns] out of those stores.”
Sheridan is a small, rural town, though. It is neither urban nor suburban by any definition.
“I’m not familiar about the store in Sheridan,” Bracy said. “One of the things we’re going through in determining what is right for the community, if that’s deer country and local shoppers depend on them, we’ll carry them. That is our intent.”
What role do “yellow form” compliance issues play in such decisions?
“I’m not sure I can talk to specifics of individual stores, but we do have situations where they have not complied,” Bracy said. “We’re working hard on systems approaches, to foolproof that system so we can comply.”
My core question is whether Wal-Mart has succumbed to pressure from gun-control or firearms abolition advocates.
“There is no ideological change [in corporate philosophy],” Bracy said. “We know the core of our customers are outdoorsmen, and we’re going to continue to serve those people.”
Just not in Sheridan.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2006/04/09&ID=Ar04200&Section=Sports
) very soon.
