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Dick's Sporting Goods hires lobbyists to sway Congress on gun control
Dick's Sporting Goods has hired several gun control lobbyists to sway Congress on its behalf. The sporting goods outlet recently made waves in the gun debate by ending its sales of assault weapons and high capacity magazines. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Dick's Sporting Goods hires lobbyists to sway Congress on gun control

Dick's Sporting Goods has taken another step further into the gun control debate, having retained three gun control lobbyists to further cement its stance on gun laws, Bloomberg reported.

Dick's had already made waves in the gun debate by ending its sales of assault weapons and high capacity magazines after the mass murder in Parkland, Florida.

What's the story?

According to lobbying registration forms obtained by The Federalist, Dick's Sporting Goods has retained The Glover Park Group, specifically enlisting the assistance of three lobbyists: Joel Johnson, Andrew King and Christina Brown.

The registration form lists "lobbying related to gun control" as the specific lobbying issue.

Johnson is a former staffer for Bill Clinton and Senate Democrat Leadership. Andrew King has served in various roles for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Brown has worked for Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania.

The last lobbyist Dick's retained, who was fired in January, focused on tax reform, cybersecurity and patent litigation reform, according to The Federalist.

Varied reaction to gun control efforts

Since Dick's announced that it would stop selling assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and also raised the minimum age for ammunition purposes to 21 years old, the store has become polarizing.

Mothers of victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre have organized a national "shop in" day for May 12 to thank Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart for their new gun policies.

"Right after our situation, Dick's and Walmart stepped up to the plate and made that business decision what we felt should happen in regard to preventing other families from going through the same thing," said April Schentrup, mother of one of the Parkland victims, to the Sun-Sentinel.

At the same time, the National Shooting Sports Foundation expelled Dick's Sporting Goods from its membership Friday. The NSSF is the nation's largest firearm trade association.

"The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, Board of Governors today unanimously voted to expel Dick's Sporting Goods from membership for conduct detrimental to the best interests of the Foundation," the group said in a statement.

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