New Haven Wal-Mart, bowing to city pressure, halts gun sales

Wal-Mart, bowing to pressure from city officials, has agreed to halt the sale of guns, hunting bows and even paintball guns at a store set to open next month. Scott Huddleston, general manager for the Wal-Mart store, said the company agreed to not stock the items after discussions with city officials, the New Haven Register reported.

"Going into a new community, we want to do what the community wants so that was an agreement we made," he said. Police Chief Francisco Ortiz Jr. wrote to the retail giant expressing his displeasure at the prospective sale of guns. "As a police chief in an urban center, I'm very concerned about the lawful as well as unlawful possession of firearms in the community," he said.

Take a moment and read that quote again. Maybe you missed it the first time. He's very concerned about the lawful possession of firearms in the community. Apparantly, he feels that it is appropriate to abuse his position of public service to threaten a store in the hopes of preventing them from selling legal products. And not just firearms -- hunting bows and paintball guns too!

This is about as offensive as it gets. Maybe some communication from gun owners would straighten things out. The general manager of the store is Scott Huddleston, and Wal-Mart has a comment form. Remember to be polite; we want to convince Wal-Mart not to give in to the crazies on the other side. You might also want to ask the newspaper why they didn't question a police chief ordering a local store not to carry legal products.