Wal-Mart Plans to Pull Handguns From Its Stores

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest retailer, Wednesday said it will stop stocking handguns at its stores as of February--a move that may prompt other mass merchandise retailers to reconsider their gun sale policies.

The discount store chain will continue to stock rifles and shotguns. Beginning Feb. 1, consumers at Wal-Mart will be able to select handguns only from vendor catalogues at the stores.

Wal-Mart said the decision was not related to a recent lawsuit filed by the sister and grandmother of a Texas man who allegedly killed his parents with a .38-caliber handgun bought at a Wal-Mart. The lawsuit claims employees at Wal-Mart in Alvin, Tex., sold a gun to Mike Alford even though Alford indicated on a federal reporting form that he had been treated for mental problems.

“What we have found is that the majority of our customers are uncomfortable in a store that has handguns (in) sight,” said Jane Arend, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. “The decision to have the catalogue order system . . . is a good compromise.”

Arend said store executives had been discussing the handgun issue for four months.

“Simply, Wal-Mart believes the mood of the country has changed, is changing,” company spokesman Don Shinkle said.

Wal-Mart was the last of the chain-store giants to sell handguns. Over the last three decades, Sears, J.C. Penney and Kmart eliminated handguns from their stores. A number of sporting goods chains continue to sell the weapons, although Big 5 Sporting Goods stopped selling handguns in 1986.

Wal-Mart’s handgun sales accounted for about 25% of the nation’s total sales by licensed merchants in 1992, according to Bob Lesmeister, manager of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Assn. of Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers.

Sporting goods shops and other stores that sell a variety of goods may reconsider their sales policies in the wake of the Wal-Mart decision, said Richard Feldman, head of the American Shooting Sports Council, a trade group that represents gun manufacturers and about 3,500 retailers who stock firearms.

“More mass merchandisers will probably consider eliminating their handgun stock because there’s a concern about lawsuits,” Feldman said. “There’s a perception of risk.”

Feldman said more consumers will probably turn to gun shops for handguns as a result of Wal-Mart’s decision. The public would benefit from such a shift because gun shop dealers are more knowledgeable about firearms and are more likely to provide consumers with information on gun safety.

Wal-Mart’s decision was hailed by gun control advocates. Gun control supporters now have more momentum, said Richard Aborn, president of Washington-based Handgun Control, a group that successfully lobbied for this year’s passage of the Brady bill, which requires consumers to wait five days before purchasing a firearm. “The fear of litigation--coupled with publicity about Wal-Mart’s step--will prompt other retailers to look at this issue and take similar action,” Aborn said.

Ironically, consumer demand for handguns in California has risen since the passage of the Brady bill, said Kerry O’Neal, field representative of the National Rifle Assn. for Southern California.

“I know handgun sales are way up,” he said. “(Sporting-goods) store owners have been saying that sales have skyrocketed. I think people fear they’ll lose their right to buy a gun,” partly because of misconceptions they have that the Brady bill will restrict them from doing so. . . . I think people will continue to go to sporting-goods stores where the sales people may be more knowledgeable.”

Times wire services contributed to this report.