Freedom to Bear Arms?

Chairman and CEO of DICK’S Sporting Goods Stores Ed Stack grew a small family business from two storefronts into the largest sporting goods retailer in the country with over $9 billion in sales and close to 800 locations—and he did so with a sense of responsibility to the communities he serves. In the wake of rising gun violence and school shootings in the United States, Stack made a series of controversial decisions curtailing firearms sales at his stores, which culminated in the wake of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, when he completely stopped selling assault-style rifles and raised the age to 21 for any firearms purchases. Since then, he has further limited firearms sales and spoken out on behalf of more restrictive gun laws—despite vocal criticism and boycotts from many of his formerly loyal customers—a decision he describes in the following excerpt from his recently published book, It’s How We Play the Game.

Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, my wife Donna and I found ourselves