Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Destroyed $5 Million Worth of Assault Weapons After Storewide Ban

The debate over gun control has reached a fever pitch in recent years, but it also feels like not much has been accomplished. You can point the finger in any direction you want to, but it’s a combination of many factors: politicians, big business, the NRA, shareholders, etc.

And as mass shootings continue to plague our country, Americans from all backgrounds grow more and more frustrated at the lack of action on gun legislation.

One CEO of a major company has decided to take a major step to prove that he and his company value human life over profits. Even though it cost his business an estimated $250 million, Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack permanently removed all assault-style rifles from 729 stores in 47 states in the U.S. in February 2018 after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

In addition to that bold move, Ed Stack also recently announced that his company actually destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons last year after it stopped selling them in stores.

Stack said he had the option to send the weapons back to the manufacturer for an 80%-85% refund or Dick’s could have tried to liquidate their inventory quickly through discounts. Stack recalled, “We’re in this meeting and I said, ‘We can’t do that.’ We think these guns should be outlawed. We think that the ban that was in place between 1994 and 2004 should be reinstated.”

Stack said he knew the weapons would end up out on the street if he chose either of those options, so they decided to destroy all the guns. Many people praised Stack’s decision but of course there was blowback from firearms manufacturers and NRA supporters.

Bravo, Mr. Stack. Let’s see if other CEOs and politicians will follow his lead.

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Therapy Dogs for the Survivors of the Parkland School Shooting Get Their Own Yearbook Page

It’s graduation season all across the country, and students everywhere are saying their goodbyes for the summer (or longer, if they’re graduating seniors) and of course, getting their yearbooks signed.

Unfortunately for the students of  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the festivities are still clouded by the looming shadow of the tragic shooting that happened in February 2018, claiming the lives of 17 students and teachers. Staff and students are still dealing with the trauma of that day, a burden they will likely carry with them for years (if not the rest of their lives).

In an attempt to help its community cope with that trauma, Stoneman Douglas High School enlisted the help of 14 therapy dogs, and this year the helpful animals got their own yearbook page.

The yearbook’s editor-in-chief, Caitlynn Tibbetts, said:

“It’s a balancing act. After the shooting we wanted that yearbook to be perfect and had to cover as much as possible. This year, we wanted to give proper representation of our school and who we are now without giving so much focus to what happened to us in the past. The therapy dogs are the one thing from last year that is permanent and positive.”

The dogs attend classes with students and hang out in the courtyard outside the cafeteria as students go to and from lunch, so the students can stop for a quick pet.

Teacher and yearbook adviser Sarah Lerner was thrilled with the addition of therapy jobs to the Stoneman Douglas High School campus. Lerner said, “There’s nothing a dog can’t fix. I’ll be teaching and in comes a dog and these big 18-year-old adults all the sudden become mushy 5-year-old kids and it’s been such a comfort for us.”

Lerner had the idea to include the 14 therapy dogs in the school’s yearbook: “We sat them up on chairs, they were smiling for the camera. It was the greatest day of my life.”

A few of the pooches even ended up going to the prom.

A great, uplifting story that was born out of a tragic day that these students and staff will never forget.

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