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Gun violence survivors and consumer advocates gathered at a Wal-Mart store near Newtown Tuesday. They’re calling on the nation’s largest gun retailer to end assault weapon sales.
Nearly 300,000 Wal-Mart customers have signed an online petition urging the retail giant to stop selling assault weapons and munitions.
About sixty people met to deliver the petition to the Wal-Mart in Danbury, a few miles away from the site of the December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Among the crowd were survivors of gun violence.
"My name is Pam Simon and I was on the staff of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and on January 8th, the same day the congresswoman was shot, I was shot in the chest."
The ammunition was purchased at Wal-Mart.
Lori Haas’s daughter was injured in the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. She says Wal-Mart should honor its 2004 pledge to stop the sale of assault weapons and munitions.
"Do we really want military grade people killers on the shelves next to the strollers? I don’t think so."
"My name is Herb Krate. I’m from Danbury Connecticut. And I’m here because I don’t think banning assault weapons, 100 round clips in infringing on the 2nd amendment."
Krate says last year he sold one of the guns he owned, and turned the other into the police department.
Amy Cohen traveled to Danbury from Armonk NY.
"I’m a mother and it's just time to stop the madness. You know when you have to worry about putting your kids on the bus, you know enough’s enough."
In an email to WNPR, spokeswoman Ashley Hardie says Wal-Mart has been purposeful about striking the right balance between serving customers that are hunters and sportsmen and ensuring that firearms are sold responsibly. She says Wal-Mart doesn’t sell handguns in the continental U.S., doesn’t sell high capacity magazines as an accessory, and limits the sale of modular sniper rifles to less than a third of its stores.
