Author Topic: Academy Sports pulls "assault rifles" from display -- industry responds!  (Read 2050 times)

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Offline Glock32

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So you may have heard that Academy Sports issued a directive from the corporate office to all stores, requiring them to pull all "assault rifles" from displays and the website.  Now, they're still going to sell them, they just won't openly display them.  Profit still rules at the end of the day, after all.

What you may not have heard about is this: http://soldiersystems.net/2016/06/16/daniel-defense-terminates-relationship-with-academy-sports/

Daniel Defense, a maker of high end ARs, has decided to terminate its relationship with Academy.


Quote
Black Creek, GA- June 16, 2016. Daniel Defense—engineer and manufacture of the world’s finest firearms, precision rail systems, and accessories— Has announced it will no longer sell firearms to Academy Sports due to their decision to remove MSR’s from their website and in-store displays.

Letter to all Daniel Defense Distributors:

“As you know we take our partnership with our stocking retailers very seriously. We are committed to serving and supplying them at the highest level and expect our retailers to have that same level of commitment to our brand and our industry. Unfortunately, Academy Sports has made a corporate decision, in the wake of the recent terrorist attack, to remove all MSRs from their website and in-store displays. Academy Sports has communicated that they intend to continue to sell the MSR category of firearms without displaying or advertising them publicly. As a prominent MSR brand, Daniel Defense cannot support decisions that are completely contrary to the values of our company and industry. Therefore, as of today, June 16th, I request that you place Academy Sports on a Do Not Sell list for all Daniel Defense products and terminate any shipments to their stores or distribution centers. It is unfortunate that we have to make this decision, but it is clearly the right thing to do for our brand, our industry and our constitutional right. Thank you for your support.”

Bill Robinson, VP of Sales

“Academy’s decision clearly segregates firearms by their appearance, which sends a dangerous message to our politicians that it’s acceptable to do so. We as an industry must stand and fight, together.”

Marty Daniel, President and CEO
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Online Pandora

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Academy Sports gave off exactly the wrong signal in caving ahead of time.  CYA, doncha know.

I'm glad to see the proper reaction from Daniel Defense.
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Offline Alphabet Soup

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I heard it from a friend who
heard it from a friend who
heard it from another you've been selling ARs....


 :D

Online Libertas

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I'm glad, truly!  It is well past due that these feckless middling little appeasers get kicked in the balls!  They got away for far too long playing it both ways, well now somebody said "Bleep you, cowards...take a stand like a man!" and I for one am immensely pleased.  Heck, DD just shot up on my shopping list!

 ::clapping::
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline AlanS

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Academy Sports doesn't care. Team sports and shoes is their bread and butter.
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."

Thomas Jefferson

Online Libertas

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Sound like real dicks...I loathe them even more.
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline Alphabet Soup

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I just now got around to reading the comments at Glock32's link (thanks for the link Glock32!).

I'm a couple of thousand miles from the nearest Academy Sports store so my opinion is largely worthless, but I recall when Dick's played a similar game. I made a point of visiting the store and asking where the guns were while holding out a wad of hundred dollar bills (about 2 grand total).

"See this money? (waving it in their faces) "This money could have been yours. Now it goes back in my pocket and out of your store forever!"

"Continue to blindly and silently go along with the people who make stupid decisions like this and you'll soon enough find yourself in the unemployment line" was my parting shot.

The store closed less than two months later because margins were paper-thin and there were too many people like me that found somewhere else to spend their cash.

I still recall the look on the face of the manager and clerks I spoke with. They were horrified and grim-faced. One whimpered that they didn't have a say in the matter. I replied that this wasn't entirely true. They might not have decision making authority but they certainly have mouths and tongues and the ability to form words.

It's possible that one or more of them related my warning - but I doubt it. And I seriously doubt that management would have cared in any event. There's a special kind of stupid at play with managers these days. Competency and the ability to do one's job rates far below holding a Lemming-like adherence to Political Correctness.

Stupid should hurt.

Offline Glock32

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Most of the fecklessness is driven by a hyper-litigious business culture.  I worked at a Dick's store when I was in college, in the hunting and fishing department.  To sell a gun, we had to jump through a lot of hoops above and beyond what was required by law.  On the 4473 we could not allow the customer to use any abbreviations at all.  They even had to write "United States of America" in the section for country of birth.  If they put "USA" it was a voided form and start all over.  We also would not accept a CCW in lieu of the NICS check, which is legal to do in NC.  That made more than a few people mad.

I don't miss that job!
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Online Libertas

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Places like Dick's just want to cater to the mindless middle of yuppies and yuppie wannabees, why they even bother selling any guns, ammo or related items is a joke...has to be less than 1% of their annual revenue...such outfits should just rename themselves the idiotic libiots catch phrase - Safe Zone, and end all pretense!

I like 'Soup's method...wave money in their face and flash ass on the way out.
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline richb

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Glad the biggest sporting goods store in my area is a Cabela.    Guns are a large part of their business, and they don't hide that fact.   They have even developed hunting VIDEO games of all things.   We have a Bass Pro Shop too,  but I doubt guns are as big for them.  Cabela and Bass Pro Shops are always rumored to be merging,  but I hope that doesn't ever happen. 

Wish Dicks hadn't bought out Galyan's.   Their stores were way nicer then any Dicks.   They were building a Galyan's at my local mall,  but the sale went through and it became the far more generic Dicks   >:(   

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Cabela's is my favorite, Gander Mountain and Fleet Farm are my second and third.
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline Predator Don

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I dropped 300.00 in Academy a few weeks ago. Guess I won't be doing that again.
I'm not always engulfed in scandals, but when I am, I make sure I blame others.

Offline Glock32

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Cabela's is my favorite, Gander Mountain and Fleet Farm are my second and third.

Same here.  We finally got a Cabela's last year, and it's great.  The reloading supplies alone are worth my time.
"The Fourth Estate is less honorable than the First Profession."

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Online Libertas

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Cabela's is my favorite, Gander Mountain and Fleet Farm are my second and third.

Same here.  We finally got a Cabela's last year, and it's great.  The reloading supplies alone are worth my time.

The just have more of everything...and the only reason Gander is #2 is because they have a lot of guns now in their expanded firearm stores...because of Cabela's primarily, but they have added a lot in that regard...but I like Cabela's better because of their staff experience and wide selection of everything. 
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline richb

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Cabela's stores themselves are worth the visit.   My local one (Hammond, Indiana) has large aquariums and museum quality taxidermy on display.   

If you live in the Chicago area,  I recommend going to the Hammond In. store over their Hoffman Estates Il. location,  (as its less then 3 miles from the state border),  as the gun selection is much more limited in the people's republic of Illinois' due to gun "control" (I think there have been times they have considered closing the Hoffman Estates location).    Another bonus,  the sales tax is much lower in Hammond too.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2016, 04:48:44 PM by richb »

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Bleep IL!   ::mooning::
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.