USA: Walmart to discontinue handgun ammunition sales following civil society pressure after El Paso attack
On August 3, 2019, a man killed 22 people and injured another 24 people with an assualt rifle in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. The perpetrator drove about 11 hours from his home in Allen, Texas to the Walmart in El Paso to commit the attack. In advance of the attack, the perpetrator is believed to have posted a document with white nationalist and racist hatred toward immigrants and Hispanics on 8chan (see more here).
Four days earlier, a recently suspended employee at a Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi shot and killed two co-workers and wounded two other people.
Following these attacks, civil society groups and people across the United States have called for Walmart to stop selling firearms and to take further action to help build safer communities. The Walmart Must Act Coalition, comprised of Guns Down America, Color of Change, March for Our Lives, The Women's March, The American Federation of Teachers, Latino Victory Project, Move On, Daily Kos, People for the American Way, Change the Ref, and Orange Ribbons for Jaime are calling upon Walmart to:
- Stop selling firearms and ammunition until we raise the national standard for gun ownership and production;
- Pledge they’ll no longer make political contributions to lawmakers who get their money from the NRA;
- Pledge that they’ll use their political influence to advocate for legislative changes to raise the standard of gun production and ownership in America, including a ban on military-style weapons; [and]
- Invest in the communities they serve and fund gun buybacks in key areas around the country.
We invited Walmart to respond; response provided below.
On 3 September 2019, Walmart announced that it would discontinue handgun ammunition, discontinue handgun sales in Alaska (marking the company's complete exit from handguns), and discourage open carry of guns in its stores.