Walmart: Assault Rifles, Semi-Automatic Shotguns No Longer Sold in Stores

Walmart confirmed this week that it will no longer sell sports rifles like the AR-15, nor larger-capacity semi-automatic shotguns, citing low sales for what some call assault rifles.

Kory Lundberg, Walmart’s senior director for corporate communications, told BearingArms.com that politics played no part in the decision.

Lundberg noted that fewer than a third of all Walmart stores carry firearms to begin with, and said those that do tend to sell bolt-action rifles, lever-action centerfire rifles, single-shot shotguns, and pump-action shotguns.

According to The New York Times, Walmart said further that it was adding to its shotgun offerings and other weapons used by hunters.

"It was done purely based on customer demand," Lundberg said, noting that the inventory changes would come in the following weeks. The sporting rifles were not "something customers were looking for and buying when they came into our stores," he said.

Arkadi Gerney, a senior vice president at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said that across the nation, "Sales of rifles are up."

Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, told CNN in June that, "Our focus as it relates to firearms should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays, and things like that. So the types of rifles we sell, the types of ammunition we sell, should be curated for those things."

Bearing Arms reported that Walmart is selling through its remaining inventory of its now-discontinued guns, and that some Walmart shoppers have been able to purchase a Bushmaster AR-15 for discounted $250.

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