As mass shootings and gun violence remain as common as ever in the U.S. andto stop them, other leaders are having to step up instead: CEOs of major corporations, including the places where guns are actually sold. One of the people leading that charge is Ed Stack, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, who just revealed that after the Parkland school shooting last year, his store destroyed $5 million worth of AR-15 rifles that it had pulled from its shelves and refused to continue to sell.
“I don’t understand how somebody, with everything that’s gone on, could actually sit there and say, ‘I don’t think we need to do a background check on people who buy guns.’ It’s just, it’s ridiculous,” heAfter Sandy Hook, he made the decision to stop selling AR-15s, the same type of rifle that was used in that attack that killed more than two dozen people, mostly young children.
Still, Stack stood by his decision. Then, in 2018 after the Parkland shooting, he was devastated to learn that Dick’s might have played a role in the tragedy.