Did Threat of Boycotts Cause Walmart to Fold on Guns and Ammo?
Nation's largest teachers union threatens Walmart boycott
over gun sales
- The
nation's largest teachers union is threatening to call for a boycott of
Walmart over the retailer's gun sales.
- The
American Federation of Teachers wants the company to stop selling
firearms, as well as take other measures.
- The
AFT has 1.7 million members and says teachers spend an average of $500 a
year on school supplies.
"If Walmart continues to provide funding to lawmakers
who are standing in the way of gun reform, teachers and students should
reconsider doing their back-to-school shopping at your stores," AFT
president Randi Weingarten wrote in an Aug. 7 letter to Walmart CEO Doug
McMillon.
The letter references Walmart's sales of bulletproof
backpacks, as well as the recent
shootings in El Paso and Dayton, and calls on the company to do its part
"to help build a future with fewer guns and safer communities." The
letter also urges Walmart to fund gun buyback programs, and for McMillion to
create a summit with other CEOs to discuss ways corporate America can address
rising gun violence.
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Walmart faces pressure to stop gun sales after latest
U.S. mass shootings
(Reuters) - Walmart Inc said on Monday there has been no
change in its policy on gun sales after two mass shootings over the weekend,
including one at a Walmart store, left 31 people dead in Texas and Ohio. Years of
public pressure led Walmart, the largest U.S arms retailer, to end assault
rifle sales in 2015 and in 2018 to raise the minimum age for gun purchases to
21. Some gun control activists and Walmart customers now want the retailer
to drop sales of guns and ammunition altogether.
The weekend shooting in Texas unfolded at a popular Walmart
store in the border city of El Paso, killing 22 people. In the other weekend
mass shooting, in Dayton, Ohio, a gunman killed nine people.
Many people took to social media to post about the deadly
shooting using the hashtags #walmartshooting,” “#boycottwalmart,” and
“#guncontrolnow.”
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