A statement posted on Dick's corporate website expresses sympathy for the victims' families and says sales of modern sporting rifles will be suspended during 'this time of national mourning.'
A sporting goods chain says it's suspending sales of "modern sporting rifles" nationwide because of the school shooting in Connecticut.
Dick's Sporting Goods also says it's removing all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown, where the massacre took place.
Authorities say a gunman killed 26 people, mostly children, with a military-style rifle at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday after killing his mother. He then killed himself.
A statement posted on Dick's corporate website expresses sympathy for the victims' families. It says sales of modern sporting rifles will be suspended during "this time of national mourning."
It's not clear how long the suspension will last or exactly which types of firearms are affected. A spokesman for Dick's did not immediately return a call for comment.
Pittsburgh-based Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. has more than 500 stores in 44 states, including in Whitehall Township and Bethlehem Township, Pa.
Other retailers are not following Dick's lead.
Cabela’s in the Hamburg, Pa., area is one of the Lehigh Valley region's largest firearms retailer. The store is not removing guns from its shelves in the wake of the Connecticut shootings, said Harold Luther, marketing manager.
“As of right now, no stores are pulling any guns,” he said today.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sells Bushmaster rifles like the one used in the massacre, said it would not change the guns it sells, but company spokesman David Tovar said the web listing for the Bushmaster "was taken down in light of the tragic events."All the talk about additional gun control appeared to be driving increased gun sales, though. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it received a record 4,154 requests for background checks on Saturday, the day after the shooting.
That was slightly more than on its normal biggest day, Black Friday.