Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent announcement that it would change its gun policies garnered its share of critics, but there’s a group of shareholders who are pleased by the new limits.
The sisters behind Mercy Investment Services and other religious groups had been pushing for changes at the Findlay-based retailer’s operations just weeks before the Parkland, Fla., shooting.
And new shopping data indicates that customer traffic to the company’s stores actually rose following the media blitz prompted by CEO Ed Stack’s announcement on Feb. 28 that Dick’s would pull assault-style rifles from its 35 specialty Field & Stream locations following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In December, Mercy Investment Services filed a shareholder resolution asking the board of Dick’s Sporting Goods what it was doing to follow the Sandy Hook Principles meant to stem gun violence. The principles have been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, aiming to divest from companies involved in firearm sales.
Representatives of the investment firm — which manages the assets of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas — met with company officials in January to discuss the resolution. The firm does not disclose the amount it manages.
Valerie Heinonen, director of shareholder advocacy for Mercy Investment Services, said there’s little that can be shared publicly about the meeting, but she said the “retailer works with high standards” when it comes to firearm policies.
After the January meeting, the investment firm — joined by other filers, including the Congregation of St. Joseph, the Episcopal Church, Mercy Health (Cincinnati) and other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility — withdrew the resolution in favor of continuing the dialogue.
On Feb. 14, the Florida shooting occurred.
Two weeks after that, Dick’s announced its changes to its gun sales policies.
“We are pleased with Dick’s Sporting Goods for their cooperation and willingness to take such a significant step toward ending gun violence,” Sister Valerie said.
Dick’s did not respond to requests for comment.
Mercy Investment is one of several religious groups that are working to enact change involving guns at corporations. It also is a co-filer with others on resolutions submitted to gun manufacturers American Outdoor Brands and Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc., also asking the companies to follow the Sandy Hook Principles.
During a shareholder call last week, Mr. Stack warned analysts that weak gun sales could cut into the company’s 2018 outlook.
But Reveal Mobile, an analytics firm based in North Carolina, said foot traffic at the company’s stores the weekend of March 2-4 was up 3.7 percent over the weekend of Feb. 23-25.
Different parts of the country saw different patterns.
“We saw a 7.59 percent increase in weekend-over-weekend foot traffic visits to Dick’s Sporting Goods in blue states, and 2.84 percent increase in red states,” said Matthew Davis, corporate marketing officer, referring to the traditional labels for states that tend to lean Republican or Democrat.
Florida, where the Parkland shooting occurred, saw the biggest increase — 9 percent. That was followed by California at 4.6 percent and Virginia at 4.4 percent.
Texas saw the biggest drop in customer traffic to the company’s stores at 5.8 percent, trailed by West Virginia at 2.8 percent.
“The difference between blue and red states gave us an indication that it was more than a seasonality,” Mr. Davis said.
In addition to removing military-style rifles from its Field & Stream locations, the retailer said it would no longer sell high-capacity magazines or sell firearms to anyone under 21 years old at all of its locations.
In 2012, Dick’s Sporting Goods had removed assault-style rifles from its namesake stores following the Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Stephanie Ritenbaugh: sritenbaugh@post-gazette.com; 412-263-4910 or Twitter: @StephanieRit.
First Published: March 20, 2018, 2:57 p.m.
Updated: March 20, 2018, 2:57 p.m.