Walmart to keep selling guns despite recent shootings at its store

Despite two deadly shootings at its stores in less than a
week, American retail giant Walmart has no plans to stop selling guns and
ammunition, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
has reported.

A man opened fire with an assault rifle at a Walmart in
Texas on Saturday, killing 20 people, just four days after a disgruntled
employee shot dead two coworkers and wounded a responding police officer at one
of the massive chain’s stores in Mississippi.

“We are focused on supporting our associates, our customers and the entire El Paso community,” reports quoted Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove as saying.

Following the El Paso shooting, Walmart Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Doug McMillon posted a note on Instagram saying he “can’t believe” it was the second such in a week.

“My heart aches for the community in El Paso,
especially the associates and customers at store 2201 and the families of the
victims,” he wrote.

“I’m praying for them and I hope you will join
me.”

Walmart founder Sam Walton loved guns — so much so that the
American gun manufacturer Remington named a hunting rifle model after him. But
the retail giant maintains that its target audience is sport shooters and
hunters.

Walmart has made gun policy changes over the years, such as
in 1993, when it stopped selling handguns.

The company stopped selling semi-automatic rifles in 2015,
and after the Parkland, Florida shooting in February 2018 — which saw 17
people killed at a high school — Walmart raised the minimum age to buy guns
and ammunition in its stores to 21.

Additionally, “Walmart goes beyond federal law
requiring all customers to pass a background check before purchasing any
firearm,” said Hargrove.

He also noted that all new Walmart employees are required to
complete an active shooter training program, which they then must pass on a
computer four times a year.

But since it is the largest retail chain in the United
States, Walmart continues to attract criticism for its enduring stock of
firearms.

When the company tweeted it was “in shock” after
the tragedy in El Paso, many Twitter users replied: “Stop selling
guns.”