Walmart says it won’t change gun sales policies in wake of 2 deadly shootings at its stores (WMT)

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• Walmart won’t change its policies around the sale of guns or ammunition in the wake of deadly shootings at stores in Texas and Mississippi, Bloomberg reports.
• Walmart banned the sale of assault-style semi-automatic rifles in 2015.
• Following the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting that killed 17 students and staff members, Walmart raised age restrictions for purchasing firearms to 21 years old and stopped the sale of items resembling assault-style rifles.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Walmart has said it won’t change policies around the sale of guns or ammunition in the wake of two deadly shootings at its stores. 

"There’s not been any directive to any stores around the country to change any policy," Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said Sunday, according to a report by Henry Goldman at Bloomberg. "We’re focused on supporting our associates, customers and the entire El Paso community."

Walmart sells a range of firearms and ammunition in its stores. The company is facing pressure to stop sales of both in the wake of shootings last week that killed at least 22 people at Walmart stores in El Paso, Texas, and Southaven, Mississippi.

Read more: Walmart employee charged with murder in the shooting death of two co-workers allegedly showed a knife at work days before the killing

Hargrove told Bloomberg that Walmart already goes beyond federal law by requiring all customers to pass a background check before purchasing a firearm. Walmart did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Walmart banned the sale of assault-style semi-automatic rifles in 2015.

At the time, Walmart attributed its decision to sluggish demand for the guns, rather than politics.

"It was done purely based on customer demand," Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, told The New York Times. The rifles, he said, were not "something customers were looking for and buying when they came into our stores."

Walmart still sells rifles. The 2015 decision only affected firearms that accept high-capacity magazines, or in other words, those that can hold several rounds of ammunition.

Walmart again changed its gun policies in 2018 shortly after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in February 2018 that killed 17 students and staff members.

In a statement citing the Parkland shooting, Walmart said it would raise age restrictions for the purchase of firearms and ammo to 21 years of age.

The company also said it would stop selling items online "resembling assault-style rifles, including nonlethal airsoft guns and toys."

"Our heritage as a company has always been in serving sportsmen and hunters, and we will continue to do so in a responsible way," said the company’s statement at the time.

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SEE ALSO: Walmart worker’s son threatened to ‘shoot up’ a Florida Walmart store and said he was inspired by recent deadly shootings

Source: Business Insider – hpeterson@businessinsider.com (Hayley Peterson)