Walmart is rolling back their decision to stock assault rifles. The chain will no longer sell rifles or semi-automatic shotguns beginning this fall, according to Rolling Stone.
"Our merchandising decisions are driven largely by customer demand," said Kory Lundberg, Walmart spokesperson. Walmart is currently the largest firearms dealer in the U.S. Official statements say this decision is not a response to the shooting in Virginia on Wednesday, nor any number of other mass shootings that have occurred in America in recent years, Rolling Stone reported.
This is not the first time the retail giant has curtailed weapons sales. Walmart has not stocked handguns since 1993, according to International Business Times, and gun sales were halted in a third of stores in 2006. "Our focus as it relates to firearms should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays and things like that...We believe in serving those customers. We have for a long time, and we believe we should continue to," Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon said earlier this year.
A handgun was used in the Wednesday shooting, but weapons similar to Walmart's rifles have been used in other shootings, such as the 2012 Colorado movie theater shooting, according to The New York Times. Sporting rifles will disappear from store shelves within the next two weeks.
Walmart will continue to sell shotguns and other hunting weapons.
