LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Wal-Mart will stop selling the AR-15 rifle and other semi-automatic weapons at its stores because fewer people are buying them, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The AR-15 rifles and other modern sporting rifles were being sold at less than a third of the company’s 4,600 U.S. stores. Company spokesman Kory Lundberg said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will remove the remaining inventory as stores transition from summer to fall merchandise, which should take a week or two to complete.
Lundberg said the decision to remove the weapons was not political and that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer made the decision earlier this year.
“It’s similar to what we do with any product. Being what it is, it gets a little more attention, but it’s the same process for any other product,” Lundberg said.
Lundberg said the company had seen a decrease in sales of the particular models of guns, but declined to give specific sales numbers. He said stores would increase inventory of other models of shotguns and rifles popular among hunters.