In a memo released Tuesday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced that the story chain would be taking up the liberal banner to crackdown on gun rights via restricting ammunition and gun sales along with demanding customers not open carry in stores. The move was celebrated by the liberal media as a win for their anti-gun agenda.
“Well, Walmart today, announced major changes in its sale of ammunition and its policy regarding customers who openly carry guns. Mireya Villarreal has more on this and breaking news about the gun policy of the nation's largest grocery store chain,” boasted failing CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell.
CBS correspondent Mireya Villarreal told Norah that “late this afternoon, we did learn that Kroger is joining Walmart and asking its customers not to openly carry firearms in any of its stores, except for law enforcement.”
After dubiously suggesting the announcement came “following a month of mass shootings” (seemingly suggesting there was a mass shooting every day last month, there wasn’t) on World News Tonight, ABC correspondent Matt Gutman bragged that McMillon said he wanted to "’make the country safer,’ by ending sales of all handgun ammunition and ammunition used in assault-style rifles.”
Gutman didn’t seem thrilled to share the National Rifle Association’s statement on the matter. He simply boiled it down to only one word. “The NRA tonight, calling the move ‘shameful,’ but others applauding it,” he reported. He then played a clip of Kris Brown, the president of the anti-gun Brady Campaign, cheering on Walmart.
“I think they've been looking at additional solutions and I think the steps they're taking really show the need for corporate America to step up and make a difference,” Brown praised.
Over on NBC Nightly News, correspondent Tom Costello spread the patently false claim that there had been “289 mass shootings” this year, so far. “For its part, Walmart is now calling on the nation's political leaders to enact stronger background checks and ensure that somebody who shouldn't get a weapon doesn't get a weapon,” he touted.
Costello also wondered: “The question tonight, will other retailers follow Walmart's lead? Dick's Sporting Goods is already cutting back on gun and ammo sales after the Parkland school shooting.”
He then shared a soundbite of NBC analyst and former ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh, who boast that “Walmart leadership is stepping up to the vacuum they see from Washington leadership. They have to protect their customers. They have to protect their associates.” That’s the same Jim Cavanaugh that thought the sound from the 2017 Manchester concert bombing by ISIS was a “gas-filled balloon.”
To Villarreal’s credit, she was the only reporter for any of the major broadcast networks to speak with an average citizen who was pro-gun and voiced a reasonable argument against Walmart’s move (click “expand”):
ROY GILLEAN When you get the bad guys in there, they're not going to follow the rules.
VILLAREAL: Roy Gillean owns the Barn Door Steakhouse in Odessa. The rise in mass shootings across the country prompted him to get a concealed handgun license.
Walmart’s now saying we're going to scale back on ammunition. We're going to scale back on handguns. Your face says it all but--
GILLEAN: Why?
VILLAREAL: You don't think that's the right decision?
GILLEAN: No! Because those people, the perpetrators, the bad people are going to get that stuff anyway.
“And so all you're doing is you're handcuffing the people that want to take care of their family, the people that want to go into protection mode,” Gillean argued.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
September 3, 2019
6:41:51 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: We reported on yet another deadly mass shooting over the labor day weekend in Texas, and tonight, the major move now by Walmart. The nation's largest retailer tonight announcing it will no longer sell ammunition for handguns and assault rifles, and it will ask customers now not to openly carry firearms into its stores. All of this comes one month to the day after a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso. ABC's chief national correspondent Matt Gutman from Texas tonight.
[Cuts to video]
MATT GUTMAN: Tonight, following a month of mass shootings, the stunning announcement from Walmart's CEO to employees to, quote, "Make the country safer," by ending sales of all handgun ammunition and ammunition used in assault-style rifles. The retail-goliath sells one in every five bullets in the U.S. The NRA tonight, calling the move "Shameful," but others applauding it.
KRIS BROWN (president of Brady): I think they've been looking at additional solutions and I think the steps they're taking really show the need for corporate America to step up and make a difference.
GUTMAN: Walmart, which stopped selling military-style weapons in 2015, saying it will cease all handgun sales in Alaska, the last place in America it sold them. The chain says it will still carry hunting rifles and shotguns, but the retailer is also asking people in open carry states not to openly carry guns into stores, following the mass shootings in El Paso, Dayton, and just this weekend in Odessa, Texas.
(…)
CBS Evening News
September 3, 2019
6:42:53 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: And that rampage came just weeks after 22 people were killed in another mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Well, Walmart today, announced major changes in its sale of ammunition and its policy regarding customers who openly carry guns. Mireya Villarreal has more on this and breaking news about the gun policy of the nation's largest grocery store chain.
[Cuts to video]
MIREYA VILLAREAL: More than 70 people have died in mass shooting incidents since August 3. Odessa, Dayton, and El Paso, where a gunman killed 22 people inside a Walmart store. Today, Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon referenced these tragedies as he announced sweeping changes to the retail giant's ammunition and gun sales.
In a memo, he writes, "It's clear to us that the status quo is unacceptable." The company plans to discontinue sales of short-barrel rifle and handgun ammunition and stop handgun sales in Alaska, the last state where they still sold those weapons. They'll request customers no longer openly carry firearms into stores in states where open carry is permitted, but they can still buy deer rifles and ammo.
Within hours of making the announcement, the NRA tweeted, "It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressures of the anti-gun elites. Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America's fundamental freedoms."
ROY GILLEAN When you get the bad guys in there, they're not going to follow the rules.
VILLAREAL: Roy Gillean owns the Barn Door Steakhouse in Odessa. The rise in mass shootings across the country prompted him to get a concealed handgun license.
Walmart’s now saying we're going to scale back on ammunition. We're going to scale back on handguns. Your face says it all but--
GILLEAN: Why?
VILLAREAL: You don't think that's the right decision?
GILLEAN: No! Because those people, the perpetrators, the bad people are going to get that stuff anyway. And so all you're doing is you're handcuffing the people that want to take care of their family, the people that want to go into protection mode.
[Cuts back to live]
VILLAREAL: Norah, late this afternoon, we did learn that Kroger is joining Walmart and asking its customers not to openly carry firearms in any of its stores, except for law enforcement. We also know they are pushing for stricter gun laws.
O’DONNELL: That is significant. Mireya, thank you.
NBC Nightly News
September 3, 2019
7:11:20 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: That mass shooting was the second to strike Texas in a month after the massacre that killed 22 people at an El Paso Walmart. Tonight, in the wake of that tragedy and amid mounting pressure, Walmart is announcing new limits on guns and ammo sales. With more on that, here's Tom Costello.
[Cuts to video]
TOM COSTELLO: The first weekend in August brought two more mass massacres in America. 22 People murder in that El Paso Walmart. The next day, nine killed in Dayton, Ohio. Earlier in the week, police say a former employee at a Mississippi Walmart shot and killed two workers.
Today, Walmart CEO said, “the status quo is unacceptable”. Announcing Walmart will discontinue sales of ammunition for assault-style weapons and handguns, and discontinue handgun sales in Alaska, the only state where it still sells handguns. And after panic at a Missouri Walmart --
DISPATCH: Male wearing a bulletproof vest and an AR around his neck has just walked into the store and is recording himself.
COSTELLO: One suspect arrested. Today, the company said, “we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores in states where open carry is permitted.”
So far this year, 289 mass shootings.
JIM CAVANAUGH: Walmart leadership is stepping up to the vacuum they see from Washington leadership. They have to protect their customers. They have to protect their associates.
COSTELLO: The question tonight, will other retailers follow Walmart's lead? Dick's Sporting Goods is already cutting back on gun and ammo sales after the Parkland school shooting.
In a statement, the NRA now says, “it is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites. Rather than place the blame on the criminal, Walmart has chosen to victimize law-abiding Americans.”
[Cuts back to live]
For its part, Walmart is now calling on the nation's political leaders to enact stronger background checks and ensure that somebody who shouldn't get a weapon doesn't get a weapon. And now Kroger, late today, said it is going to be joining Walmart and calling for customers in open carry states, please do not carry a gun into their stores. Lester?
HOLT: All right, Tom Costello, thank you.
