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| One less place selling assault-style rifles |
Pretty
soon, that statement had been turned into a story that was showing up on news
organizations across the nation – heck, it was the lede story for the Chicago
Sun-Times’ website for part of the day.
SOMEWHERE,
THERE’S A public relations executive who earned their money for the day – they got
Dick’s corporate name into the public eye, and in a way that will be viewed
sympathetically by the general public.
A
good day, I suppose.
Except
that I’m not the least bit convinced this move will make any dent whatsoever in
the flow of firearms that exist amongst the public – and are what causes the
threat of violence that exists these days in our society.
Because
I’m not convinced that the kind of people who are obtaining firearms for
violent purposes who really have no business thinking of themselves as gun
owners are those who go to big, public shopping centers when they seek out
their weapons.
I WRITE THAT knowing full well that Dick’s officials admitted that one of the
weapons used in that Parkland, Fla., school shooting that left 17 dead last month
was a shotgun that had been purchased from a Dick’s store.
That
was truly the fluke.
Perhaps
I’ve been influenced too much by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other activists who
get worked up over gun violence. As a reporter-type person, I have seen them do
many protests at gun shops that usually are in isolated locations. A place like
Dick’s would be far too public for the kind of people actually having thoughts
of large-scale violence for whatever foul reason they concoct in their minds.
And
I’m not about to blame places like Chuck’s Gun Shop, located in suburban
Riverdale just a few blocks across from the Chicago city limits. Although
Jackson and the Rev. Michael Pfleger have often said they think Chuck’s sells
many of the weapons that eventually wind up being used for nefarious purposes,
even that store in a decaying suburb (one I lived in for a few years back when
I was a young child) may be too out-in-the-open for conspiracy types.
WHAT
ALWAYS ASTOUNDS me is the trail a weapon can take from the time it was legally
sold to the point when someone decided to enrich themselves by selling it to
someone whose intent is some sort of foul play.
It’s
certainly not anything that would involve Dick’s.
Heck,
Dick’s itself actually cut off sales of automatic rifles several years ago following
another school shooting incident in Connecticut – one that involved children
far younger than the teenagers who perished in Florida. What this act involves
is cutting off sales of such weapons at the Field & Stream stores that also
are a part of the corporate family.
Obviously,
cutting off the sales at Dick’s proper several years ago didn’t prevent this
incident from occurring. In fact, it makes me agree with a television-type
pundit I heard recently who said that if the incident at the Sandy Hook
Elementary School (where very young children were killed) didn’t motivate
political people to act, then likely nothing would.
I
DID FIND it interesting to see Dick’s says it will no longer sell firearms of
any type to anyone under 21, which is a step in the right direction.
Particularly
since it is an idea being contemplated by the Illinois General Assembly, where on Wednesday the Illinois House of Representatives approved an identical age limit, while taking up the enactment of several firearms-related restrictions
that allegedly will make the public feel more secure.
Seeing
a business voluntarily take on such a restriction is more likely to work than a
state law that, I’m sure, ideologues will claim is another unfair regulation
meant to hem in business.
But
it still doesn’t change the fact that this move by Dick’s is but a tiny piece
of the overall solution. Just as I’m sure our state Legislature’s actions are motivated
in part by their desire that we quit focusing attention on other issues (sexual
harassment, anyone?) they’d prefer we ignore.
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