Dick's Sporting Goods Halts Sales of Some Rifles

As private equity company tries to offload company that makes Bushmaster
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 18, 2012 9:49 AM CST
Walmart, Dick's Halt Sales of Rifles
In this March 27, 2006 file photo, a Bushmaster AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and ammunition is seen at the Seattle Police headquarters in Seattle.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Dick's Sporting Goods has pulled all of its guns from its location closest to Newtown, Connecticut, and has pulled some models of semi-automatic rifles from all its stores, the company announced today. On the company's website today, the page for "modern sporting rifles" is blank, CNN reports. (It adds that authorities are reviewing whether Adam Lanza tried to buy a gun from a Dick's 12 miles from Newtown.) Walmart, meanwhile, is still selling rifles, though it pulled a photo and description of the Bushmaster AR-15—the type used at Newtown—from its website.

They're not the only companies trying to distance themselves from the assault rifle. Cerberus Capital Management announced it plans to sell off its Freedom Group family of gun makers, the New York Times reports. Cerberus bought Bushmaster back in 2006, and later launched the Freedom Group, a combo of it and other gun manufacturers, including Remington Arms. "It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level," the private equity firm explained in a press release. (Click for more on the Bushmaster's lethal history.)

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