Conservative shareholder grills Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO over decision to restrict guns

A conservative shareholder confronted Dick's Sporting Goods' CEO Edward Stack during an investors meeting over the company's recent move to restrict gun sales in its stores.

What's the background?

After the mass killing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, Dick's Sporting Goods banned the sale of all "assault-style rifles" in its stores.

In addition to the ban, the company also announced that it would no longer sell high-capacity magazines, and placed under 21 age restrictions on the sale of rifles and shotguns.

Federal law currently allows U.S. citizens 18 years and older to purchase long guns as long as they pass a background check.

Reports emerged in May alleging that Dick's hired lobbyists to sway Congress on gun control.

What happened at the investors meeting?

On Wednesday, Fox Business reported that David Almasi, a vice president at conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research, attended a Wednesday meeting as a representative of the organization's Free Enterprise Project.

During the annual shareholder meeting Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Almasi reportedly accused Stack of "willfully giving up money" with its recent policy cracking down on weapons.

According to the report, Almasi said Dick’s "has damaged its reputation by lending its voice and its resources to those who want to abolish the Second Amendment, even while the vast majority of Americans support the Second Amendment."

"Thirty percent of American adults own guns, and another 11 [percent] live with someone who does. You’ve now alienated them," Almasi added.

What did the CEO say?

According to a recording posted on YouTube, Stack fired back and said, "We did not alienate every gun owner. We did alienate some gun owners. We had a number of people who are gun owners, myself included, who sent us notes saying that, 'We applaud what you did.'"

"We think this was in the best interest of our shareholders long term," Stack added. "Did we alienate some customers? Yes, we did. We felt it was the best decision for the long-term aspect of our shareholders. You can see, from our announcement, our stock is actually up double-digits."

Stack explained that the company would remain unmoved on its position.

"We will not be changing our position," he said.

According to Fox Business, Almasi asked Stack to reconsider, and reportedly suggested that the chain's sales would suffer if pro-Second Amendment organizations led boycotts against the store.