Petition Urges Dick's Sporting Goods to End Ammunition Sales

A Mississippi teacher is circulating a petition online requesting that Dick's Sporting Goods discontinue the sale of high-powered ammunition in light of a Colorado movie theater massacre that killed 12 and wounded 58. 

The petition, which has gained more than 4,000 signatures, asks the national sporting goods retailer, which is headquartered in Moon Township, to stop selling high-capacity magazines in its stores and online.  

24-year-old James Holmes is charged with 24 counts of murder and 116 counts of attempted murder after Colorado police said he opened fire last month in a theater during a showing of the Batman film Dark Knight Rises, killing more than a dozen moviegoers.

Authorities said he used a high-powered, semi-automatic assault rifle in the shooting that was capable of unloading as many as 50 to 60 rounds per minute. He also brought two Glock pistols and a shotgun with him to the theater, according to the Associated Press. 

Read the petition here.

The petition was started by Mississippi health teacher Getty Israel, who says pulling high-capacity ammunition from store shelves could deter a similar massacre, according to a statement from MoveOn.org, which has endorsed the effort. 

Dick's Sporting Goods could not be reached for comment and has not yet responded to the petition. The company operates more than 500 locations across the country, including one at the Mall at Robinson, and is based out of a Court Street facility.

What do you think? Should Dick's Sporting Goods pull ammunition for high-powered guns from its shelves? Is making ammunition less accessible effective gun control? Do you purchase ammunition from Dick's? Log in and share your thoughts in the comments below.