Business & Tech

Walmart To Stop Selling Ammo At Cartersville Store, Nationwide

The nation's largest retailer asks that customers no longer openly carry firearms in stores, and will stop selling some ammunition.

Walmart asks that customers no longer openly carry firearms in stores, and will stop selling assault weapons ammunition.
Walmart asks that customers no longer openly carry firearms in stores, and will stop selling assault weapons ammunition. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

CARTERSVILLE, GA — Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, announced on Sept. 3 that the company would stop selling certain types of ammunition that can be used in military assault rifles. The move comes in response to the shooting in the retailer's El Paso store last month that killed 22 people, as well as the subsequent mass shootings that occurred in Dayton, Ohio, and in Midland and Odessa, Texas.

The retailer is also "respectfully requesting" that customers no longer openly carry firearms into their stores in states where "open carry" is allowed — except if they are law enforcement officers.
The retailer made the announcement after weeks of discussing the appropriate response to the violence that occurred in El Paso on Aug. 3. The company said, "We've also been listening to a lot of people inside and outside our company as we think about the role we can play in helping to make the country safer."

Walmart announced the following changes in the store in Cartersville and across the nation:

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  • "After selling through our current inventory commitments, we will discontinue sales of short-barrel rifle ammunition such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 millimeter that, while commonly used in some hunting rifles, can also be used in large capacity clips on military-style weapons."
  • "We will sell through and discontinue handgun ammunition."
  • "We will discontinue handgun sales in Alaska, marking our complete exit from handguns."

Here is the Walmart location in the area: 101 Market Pl Blvd, Cartersville.

The announcement comes in the wake of previously made decisions by Walmart to stop selling handguns, military-style rifles, to raise the age limit to purchase a firearm or ammunition to 21, to require a "green light" on a background check, and to only allow certain trained associates to sell firearms.

Find out what's happening in Cartersvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Walmart expects the action to reduce the companies market share of ammunition from around 20 percent to about 6 to 9 percent.

The companies concluding message was one of finding a solution for mass shootings.

"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. The status quo is unacceptable."

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