By Shelly Banjo | Quartz
Walmart is taking assault rifles off its US shelves, in a move it says is motivated by diminished consumer demand rather than politics.
The world’s largest retailer will stop stocking AR-15s and other modern sporting rifles (MSRs) as it resets its stores with fall merchandise, a Walmart spokesman confirmed to Quartz on Wednesday. The company will replace the rifles (carried in less than a third of its stores) with shotguns and other hunting weapons.
The move comes in the midst of a national gun debate fueled by high-profile shootings involving the weapon, including Adam Lanza in the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, James Holmes in the Colorado theater shooting, and the Los Angeles Airport shooting where a Transportation Security Administration officer was shot and killed.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation says modern sporting rifles are among the most popular firearms being sold in America.
