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Grocery Chain Announces Ban on Gun Magazines Featuring 'Black Guns'

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Shopping chain Kroger has announced that it will ban magazines featuring so-called “assault weapons,” according to USA Today.

The decision was made in the wake of the Parkland shooting and subsequent pro-gun control protests.

“The Cincinnati-based supermarket retailer said the new policy is being phased in now across its national chain. Kroger didn’t name specific titles, but periodicals that have featured assault weapons include: Guns & Ammo, Tactical Life and Recoil,” USA Today reported.

“We regularly review the company’s assortment of periodicals and make merchandising decisions based on customer preferences,” Kroger said in a statement.

So-called “assault weapons” are referred to among enthusiasts as “black guns.” The name has a bit of a double meaning; it not only refers to the finish of the weapons, but the fact that they have the same capabilities of other firearms that aren’t finished in black and thus considered less “threatening” by the media.

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It’s not just its decisions on which magazines to carry that are inspiring ire, either.

Several weeks ago, Kroger announced that it was going to move the minimum age to buy a firearm at its Fred Meyer general-merchandise stores from 18 to 21.

Then on Monday, Kroger announced Fred Meyer would be abandoning the firearm market entirely.

According to Bloomberg, the business generates about $7 million in revenue annually for Fred Meyer.

Do you plan to boycott Kroger over this decision?

Yet, the company said it was exiting due to “evaluating changing customer preferences.”

“There have already been efforts to steadily reduce this category in Fred Meyer stores over the last several years due to softening consumer demand,” the company said.

Kroger certainly isn’t the first company to take such an ostentatious stand against guns. Dick’s Sporting Goods also did so, raising the age to buy firearms from 18 to 21 and would end sales of certain semi-automatic rifles from its affiliate stores.

That decision garnered plenty of backlash from pro-Second Amendment consumers, and it generated two awesome (and mega-viral) resignation letters.

What these companies don’t seem to realize is that while people don’t usually procott companies, they’re certainly willing to boycott them over their policies. They also don’t realize that the furor that’s been magnified by the media makes the forces demanding gun control seem much larger — and the gun-owning demographic seem much smaller — than they really are.

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These companies have every right to do what they’re doing, even though fear of a “black gun” is almost completely an invention of media hysteria.

Consumers have every right to shop how they so choose, however — and that’s not going to work out for Kroger quite as rosily as they might think.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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