Walmart and the gun control debate

We discuss Walmart's decision to stop selling handguns and certain types of ammunition. And we look at what gun laws and measures are effective at reducing gun violence.

Air Date: September 6, 2019 10:00 am

Bob Viden, owner of Bob's Little Sport Shop in Glassboro N.J., compares the bullets used in the AR 15 (left) and the Remmington hunting rifle. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Guests: Michael Corkery, Cassandra Crifasi, Michael Siegel

Walmart announced this week that it would stop selling handguns, ammunition for handguns and for assault-style firearms at its thousands of stores. Walmart is also asking customers not to openly carry guns while shopping at the retailer. This announcement came days after yet another mass shooting, this time in Odessa, Texas and a month after 22 people were killed at an El Paso, Texas Walmart. We start off this hour discussing the significance of the company’s decision and if it will have any impact on the gun control debate with MICHAEL CORKERY, a business reporter with the New York Times. Then, we look at gun violence prevention and examine the policies and programs that have proven most effective. We’ll also examine what’s behind the inaction in Washington around gun control measures. Our guests are CASSANDRA CRIFASI, Deputy Director at Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, and MICHAEL SIEGEL, a professor of community health sciences at Boston University.

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