Dick's will stop selling assault-style rifles in wake of Florida school shooting - and now the pressure is on at Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's

Bass Pro Shops Pyramid

The pressure is on at Bass Pro Shops, which sells all manner of hunting and fishing gear.

• Customers are calling for Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's to stop selling assault-style rifles.
• Dick's Sporting Goods changed its firearm policy on Wednesday, following a shooting that killed 17 people at a Parkland, Florida high school.
• Gun sales are a major part of Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's business, with deals such as NRA Freedom Days.

With Dick's Sporting Goods no longer selling assault-style rifles, the pressure is on at rival Bass Pro Shops.

On Wednesday, Dick's CEO Ed Stack announced that the company would no longer sell assault-style weapons and would stop selling guns to people under the age of 21.

Now, people are calling on Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's, another outdoor-recreation retailer that it acquired in 2017, to do the same.

Customers have flooded the retailers' social-media accounts with requests that it follow Dick's example and change its firearm sales policies.

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"We encourage you to follow Dick's Sporting Goods lead and stop selling assault weapons and stop selling all weapons to anyone under 21," one Facebook commenter wrote. "My family will not shop at your stores here in Denver until that happens."

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"We are gun owners and Cabelas customers," a commenter wrote on Cabela's Facebook page. "We've spent a lot of money at your store over the last few years. You were our preferred store for all things outdoors and we loved shopping with you but we will be taking our business to Dicks sports until you step up on gun control."

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"As a long-time patron, I urge you to please follow DICK'S Sporting Goods' lead and stop selling assault rifles and high capacity magazines," another commented on Dick's Facebook page. "When the gun used in the next shooting is traced back to your store, I promise you will lose many more customers than you stand to gain now by doing [the] right thing."

Nikolas Cruz, who is suspected of killing 17 people in the shooting in Parkland, Florida, bought a gun from Dick's in November. While, it was not the gun used in the shooting, the purchase helped convince Dick's to change its policy.

"It was not the gun, nor type of gun, he used in the shooting," Dick's said in a letter to customers on Wednesday. "But it could have been."

Neither Dick's nor Bass Pro Shops breaks out how much of its business comes from gun sales. However, hunting supplies make up a much larger part of Bass Pro Shops' and Cabela's image than Dick's.

Dick's had already stopped selling assault-style rifles at all of its main stores in 2012, following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The new policy will primarily affect sales online and at its hunting and fishing chain, Field & Stream.

However, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's have a greater emphasis on hunting and gun sales as part of their business. Bass Pro Shops, for example, holds NRA Freedom Days, offering discounts to customers to join or renew their National Rifle Association memberships in stores.

Currently, Bass Pro Shops bans people under the age of 18 from buying firearms. Customers need to be 21 or older to buy anything other than a rifle or shotgun.

While some customers called for Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's to follow Dick's lead, others encouraged the outdoor retailers to ignore the change.

"Hang tough on this campaign against the sporting rifles," one commenter wrote on Dick's Facebook page. "The majority of those posting have never nor will ever be your customers."

"I hope Bass Pro Shops starts selling baseball gear, because we won't be shopping at DICK'S Sporting Goods anymore," wrote another.

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