NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart has reversed course, announcing it is returning ammunition and firearms to their displays in its U.S. stores.
On Thursday the nation’s largest retailer said it had removed the items from displays due to “civil unrest” in some areas of the country. Guns and ammunition, however, had remained for sale at the stores, just not visible to shoppers.
But on Friday Walmart said the items had been restored to displays because the unrest has remained isolated.
The moves come after several days of protests, vandalism, and an overnight curfew in Philadelphia after police fatally shot a Black man with a history of mental health problems.
“After civil unrest earlier this week resulted in damage to several of our stores, consistent with actions we took over the summer, we asked stores to move firearms and ammunition from the sales floor to a secure location in the back of the store in an abundance of caution, “ Walmart said in a statement. “As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today.”
The retailer based in Bentonville, Arkansas, sells firearms in about half of its 4,700 stores.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart says it has removed ammunition and firearms from displays at its U.S. stores, citing “civil unrest” in some areas.
The nation’s largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, sells firearms in about half of its 4,700 stores.
“We have seen some isolated civil unrest and as we have done on several occasions over the last few years, we have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution for the safety of our associates and customers,” Walmart said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Thursday.
The discounter said the items remain available for purchase by customers.
The move comes after several days of protests, widespread vandalism and an overnight curfew in Philadelphia before Election Day after police fatally shot a Black man with a history of mental health problems.
Walmart made a a similar move in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd that set off sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality and injustice against African Americans.
Last year, Walmart stopped selling handgun and short-barrel rifle ammunition while requesting that customers not openly carry firearms in its stores, even where state laws allow it. The company also ended the sale of handguns in Alaska, the only state where the discounter sold them.