Dick’s Sporting Goods announced in March it would stop selling firearms and ammunition at 125 of its 700-plus locations. Other companies have responded to public pressure to restrict gun sales. Most firearms sales are done through thousands of unaffiliated gun shops or gun shows, not big retail chains.Ī number of gun control activists praised Walmart’s moves, while gun manufacturers such as Vista Outdoors and Smith & Wesson parent company American Outdoor Brands Corp. stores sell firearms, or around 2% of all U.S. Walmart’s moves will reduce its market share of ammunition from around 20% to a range of about 6% to 9%, according to Tuesday’s memo. Texas became an open carry state in 2016, allowing people to openly carry firearms in public. The gunman used an AK-style rifle - one that Walmart already bans the sale of - in the deadliest shooting in the company’s history. Last month, a gunman entered a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. Walmart says it will be adding signage in stores to inform customers of those changes. However, it said that it won’t be changing its policy for customers who have permits for concealed carry. The retailer is further requesting that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms at its Walmart and Sam’s Club stores unless they are law enforcement officers. “In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again,” according to a memo by Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon circulated to employees Tuesday afternoon. The latest move marks its complete exit from that business and allows it to focus on hunting rifles and related ammunition only. Walmart stopped selling handguns in the mid-1990s, with the exception of Alaska. It will also discontinue handgun sales in Alaska. 223 caliber and 5.56 caliber used in military style weapons, after it runs out of its current inventory. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based discounter said Tuesday it will stop selling handgun ammunition as well as short-barrel rifle ammunition, such as the. The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas, and follows back-to-back shootings last month, one of them at a Walmart store. NEW YORK (AP) - Walmart says it will stop selling handgun and short-barrel rifle ammunition, while requesting that customers not openly carry firearms in its stores, even where state laws allow it. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.