The industry was outraged when Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) announced it would remove guns from its nationwide chain. Now, it appears the company is quietly abandoning their Field & Stream stores as well.
Yesterday, it was reported that Dick’s was selling eight of its 35 Field & Stream branded stores to Sportsman’s Warehouse. Seems Utah-based Sportsman’s Warehouse feels the locations (Camp Hill and Allatoona, PA, Horseheads and Rochester, NY, Greensboro and Asheville, NC and Troy, Michigan) are “opportunistic expansion” openings and worth the reported $28-million purchase price.
In fact, Sportsman’s Warehouse CEO Jon Baker described the eight locations as “strong markets with well-established customer bases.” All good for a company that has solidly identified with hunters and the shooting markets.
Dick’s has yet to clearly state what has become, essentially, a foregone conclusion- they plan to remove hunting gear from all their Dick’s locations (125 more this year) and dispose of the remaining 27 Field & Stream brand stores as quickly as is practicable.
The deal is expected to close next week.
Yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren went on record-again- as saying she’s proposing the imposition of a couple of hefty taxes on gun and ammunition purchases. Speaking at an MSNBC Town Hall in Nevada, Warren said she was planning on a “30 percent gun tax and a 50 percent federal ammunition tax.”
In other words, your $400 gun would cost $520 before all the additional taxes, and the $20 box of ammo to accompany it would be $30, again before sales and other taxes. All in all, $420 would become $550.
It’s not usual for me to jump into political silliness, but there comes a point when, politics aside, you have to ask “what are these people thinking?”
Fortunately, that’s not a mental exercise I have to undertake. Politics has become an exercise in ridiculous attempts to take fringe elements mainstream.
With that having been said, there is a good deed being performed in Washington this weekend.
In recognition of National Blind Sports Day on Sunday, October 6, Team River Runner of the Washington Canoe Club (Washington, D.C.) will hold a kayaking event. It’s one of several events around the country that are part of National Blind Sports Day.
Good going, Team River Runner.
Here’s a list of other special events around the country this weekend:
 |
2019 Events
ALASKA
Challenge Alaska
Saturday, October 5
Sports: Blind Hockey
Jeff Dick (jeff@challengealaska.org)
13701 Harry McDonald Rd., Eagle River, Alaska 99577
CALIFORNIA
Bay Area Outreach Program (BORP)
Saturday, October 5
Sports: Wheelchair Basketball and Power Soccer
Jonathan Newman (jonathan@borp.org)
3075 Adeline St #200, Berkeley, CA 94703
Blind Stokers Club
Saturday, October 5
San Diego, California
Sports: Tandem Demonstration Rides
Contact: Dave White (director@blindstokersclub.org ) 619-507-9834
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/357885725097388/
blindstokersclub.org
COLORADO
United States Association of Blind Athletes
Friday, October 4
Colorado Springs, CO
Sports: Multi-Sport
Contact: Kevin Brousard (kbrousard@usaba.org) 719-866-3019
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Team River Runner
Sunday, October 6
Sports: Kayaking
Joe Mornini (joe@teamriverrunner.org)
Washington Canoe Club, Washington, D.C.
FLORIDA
Lighthouse of Broward
Saturday, October 5
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Sports: Goalball, Adapted Soccer and Yoga
Contact: Samantha Kelly (skelly@lhob.org) 954-463-4217
MARYLAND
Towson University Campus Recreation
Frday, October 4
Towson, MD
Sports: Goalball Tournament
Contact: Jeffrey Keenan (jkeenan@towson.edu) 410-704-3649
NEW JERSEY
Blind Athletes Inc. Paralympic Sports Club
Friday, October 4
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ
Contact: Jennifer Demby (jennifer.demby@outlook.com)
Event Flyer: https://www.usaba.org/wp-content/uploads/NBSD-Blind-Athletes-Inc-Flyer-10-4-19.pdf
Association of Blind Athletes of New Jersey
Saturday, October 5
Contact: Sharon Gunderman (Cfg1@psu.edu)
NEW YORK
Achilles International
Saturday, October 5
New York City, NY
Engineer's Gate in Central Park. Enter the park at 5th Ave. at E. 90th Street. Access-A-Ride dropoff is 1085 Fifth Avenue
Contact: Michael Anderson (manderson@achillesinternational.org)
PENNSYLVANIA
Blind Sports Organization
Saturday, October 5
Havertown, PA
Sports: Goalball, Basketball, Soccer, Beep Baseball, Gymnastics, Kickball and Bonfire
Contact: Matt Shields (matthew.joseph.shields@gmail.com) 610-931-0911
www.blindsports.org
TENNESSEE
Achilles Nashville
Wednesday, October 2
Nashville, TN
Sports: Running
Contact: Amy Harris (amy.courtney.harris@gmail.com)
https://achillesnashville.org
TriState Adaptive Sports Association
Saturday, October 5
Memphis, TN
Sports: Tandem Cycling and Corn Hole
Contact: Calvin Poole (cpoole1354@gmail.com) 901-490-2800
tasaweb.org
TEXAS
BCS Outlaws
Saturday, October 5
Bryan, TX
Sports: Beep Baseball
Contact: John Stark (johnstark1975.js@gmail.com)
Fearless Tandem
Monday, Sept. 30
Austin, TX
Sports: Tandem Cycling
Contact: Briana Cohen (cohenbriana@gmail.com)
Website: https://bici101.wixsite.com/fearlesstandem
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd