Gun owners: Shoot local, shop local

Holly Fredericks is a local gun owner who, along with her husband, Jack, shoots regularly.

Despite living one stop light from the Hayden Walmart, Fredericks has not bought a box of handgun shells at the superstore.

Although Walmart announced this week it will quit selling handgun ammunition in the wake of recent fatal shootings in Texas and elsewhere, many local shooters wonder whether the decision was based on business or politics.

“I don’t know if a lot of people go to Walmart to buy ammo,” Fredericks said. “Usually when I go there for eggs or bread I don’t think, ‘Maybe I should pick up a box of bullets.’”

Walmart isn’t saying whether handgun shells are a money loser in its mega stores, but stopping sales of cartridges appeases some special interest groups, observers said.

In a prepared statement, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the company’s decision to forgo some ammunition sales was prompted by the recent incident in El Paso, Texas, in which a gunman at a Walmart shot 48 people. The incident came just two days after two Walmart employees were killed by an associate in a Mississippi Walmart.

“We have been focused on store safety and security,” McMillon wrote. “We’ve also been listening to a lot of people inside and outside our company as we think about the role we can play in helping to make the country safer. It’s clear to us that the status quo is unacceptable.”

The company quit selling handguns and military-looking rifles such as the AR-15, and opted to raise the age limit to purchase a firearm or ammunition to 21. Walmart also adopted a background-check protocol that exceeds federal standards. Stores videotape firearm sales.

Walmart’s most recent decision includes discontinuing the sale of short-barrel rifle ammunition such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber ammunition that McMillon says can be used in big clips on military-looking firearms. Walmart will no longer sell handgun ammunition once current inventories are depleted, and it will implement a policy discouraging people to openly carry firearms in its stores — a legal right in some locations.

Walmart says the latest decision will reduce the company’s market share of ammunition from around 20% to between 6 to 9%.

Dwight Van Horn, a former police officer who lives in Hayden, said the decision by Walmart likely will not affect gun owners who shoot regularly and who look for bargain ammunition.

“Walmart prices aren’t that good,” Van Horn said.

The company’s bullet inventory is basic, covering just a handful of calibers. Quitting the sale of handgun cartridges that can easily be purchased elsewhere likely won’t make a dent in most shooter’s docket.

Walmart’s ammunition is mostly for people, “who are shopping and think they may need a box of .22 shells for the weekend or something like that,” Van Horn said.

He and his shooting partners buy ammunition at the larger outdoor stores from Post Falls to Coeur d’Alene, which tend to have a larger inventory and better prices.

Nevertheless, the popular superstore — the world’s largest retailer — does provide convenience. Casual shooters and plinkers may need to make a trip elsewhere to buy handgun bullets.

Kinsey Boyle of Triple B Guns hopes they drop in at her store.

The family-owned business on Government Way said Walmart’s decision was an opportunity for shops like her’s.

Boyle and her husband, Marc, purchased the store last year and already have a strong following that includes a steady clientele for .223 and 5.56 rounds.

“We don’t mark up the ammo much,” she said. “It’s kind of a courtesy for people who buy guns here.”

Although a host of people use big-box stores for their purchases, Boyle hopes the Walmart decision will be an eye-opener for shooting enthusiasts — one that encourages people to patronize their home-town merchants.

“People will start coming back to the little stores,” Boyle said. “So, they might be coming here instead. I’m OK with that.”