Dick's Sporting Goods suspends sales of modern rifles
Guns taken off display at Connecticut store
12/18/2012PITTSBURGH — A sporting goods chain says it's suspending sales of modern rifles nationwide because of the school shooting in Connecticut.
Dick's Sporting Goods also says it's removing all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown, where the massacre took place.
Authorities say a gunman killed 26 people, mostly children, with a military-style rifle at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday after killing his mother. He then killed himself.
A statement posted on Dick's corporate Web site expresses sympathy for the victims’ families. It says sales of modern sporting rifles will be suspended during “this time of national mourning.”
It's not clear how long the suspension will last. A spokesman for Dick's did not immediately return a call for comment today.
Pittsburgh-based Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. has more than 500 stores in 44 states.