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Boycott: REI, Mountain Equipment Co-Op stop selling major outdoor brand with NRA ties

March 2, 2018 at 4:54 a.m. EST
An REI Co-op store stands in Winter Park, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP)

CamelBak water bottles, Bell bicycle helmets, Giro ski goggles — these products are all  owned by Vista Outdoor, which includes gun and ammo makers among its brands and has a strong connection to the National Rifle Association.

And that’s part of the reason REI, a nationwide outdoor retailer and consumer co-op, announced Thursday evening that it would no longer be ordering CamelBak, Bell, Giro or any other of the 50 Vista Outdoor brands to sell in its stores.

REI’s announcement came just hours after thousands of its co-op members signed an online petition urging REI to cut ties with Vista Outdoor over Vista’s gun-manufacturing business and support for the NRA. The company joins others that have taken a stand against military-style weapons and the NRA lobby by discontinuing sales, making it harder to buy weapons or, as in this case, cutting ties in the wake of the Florida school shooting last month that left 17 teenagers and educators dead.

Within the past week, Dick’s Sporting Goods has stopped selling military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines and raised the age for purchasing guns at its stores to 21. Kroger, Walmart and L.L. Bean also all raised the age to 21 for gun sales.

Dick's Sporting Goods announced on Feb. 28 that the store is ending sales of all assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines in their stores. (Video: Reuters)

REI was at least the second company on Thursday to announce its split from Vista Outdoor products. The other was Mountain Equipment Co-Op, an outdoors equipment retailer that said it had received an overwhelming number of requests from its members to stop helping a gun manufacturer profit by selling its products.

REI said in a statement that it was Vista’s silence that led the retailer to stop selling those  products indefinitely.

“REI does not sell guns. We believe that it is the job of companies that manufacture and sell guns and ammunition to work towards common sense solutions that prevent the type of violence that happened in Florida last month,” REI said in a statement. “In the last few days, we’ve seen such action from companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart and we applaud their leadership. … This morning we learned that Vista does not plan to make a public statement that outlines a clear plan of action. As a result, we have decided to place a hold on future orders of products that Vista sells through REI while we assess how Vista proceeds.”

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Vista Outdoor’s business is divided into two branches: One is dedicated to outdoor products; the other is dedicated to “shooting sports,” which generates 54 percent of the company’s external sales revenue, according to its annual report. Its firearms brands include Savage Arms, which makes “modern sporting rifles” and lists a semiautomatic series of weapons on its website, and Federal Premium Ammunition, which sponsors NRATV. Vista Outdoor also is a large vendor at the NRA’s annual gun show.

In its 2017 annual report to investors, Vista Outdoor expressed concern about the possibility that Congress or state lawmakers could succeed in passing gun-control measures, affecting Vista’s revenue.

If enacted, such legislation could effectively ban or severely limit the sale of affected firearms or ammunition. In addition, if such restrictions are enacted and are incongruent, we could find it difficult, expensive or even practically impossible to comply with them, which could impede new product development and the distribution of existing products. We cannot assure you that the regulation of our business activities will not become more restrictive in the future and that any such restriction will not have a material adverse effect on our business.

More than 16,000 people signed the petition asking REI to stop doing business with Vista, and many of them left comments, the retailer said.

“Please drop Vista Brands because you are supporting the gun lobby by selling their products,” a woman from California wrote. “There is no other purpose for guns except to kill. How many more innocent lives will be tragically lost before this stops?”

A commenter from Texas said: “I am a PROUD REI member and enough is ENOUGH! REI does not need to associate with companies that are keeping gun manufacturers afloat.”

Mountain Equipment Co-Op said it heard from about 5,500 members who offered a range of opinions on what the company should do with Vista brands sold in its stores, including Bollé, Bushnell, CamelBak, Camp Chef and Jimmy Styks. Chief executive David Labistour announced the decision in an open letter, saying that after much consideration the company decided to suspend all further orders of the products.

“On a very personal note, many of us come from parts of the world where we have witnessed the use and impact of guns first-hand. I include myself in that community,” Labistour wrote. “I have proudly served in the military and grew up in a rural area where hunting was commonplace. I can readily identify with our members who are on all sides of this debate. At the same time, my personal experience has taught me about the power of engagement. I believe that engagement is the path to change, as tough as it might be.”

CamelBak pushed back on the moves to boycott its hydration products, saying that since CamelBak fell under Vista’s outdoors-product branch, consumers shouldn’t be concerned that they are supporting the gun industry.

Delta and United join a growing list of companies cutting ties with the National Rifle Association. (Video: The Washington Post)

“A major concern for the boycott centers around the incorrect assumption that the purchase of any of our products may support a cause that does not fit the mission/values of our brand,” the company said in a statement. “That is not the case. Our brand falls within the Outdoor Products segment of our company, which operates separately from Vista Outdoor’s Shooting Sports segment. Since 1989, CamelBak has been committed to forever changing the way people hydrate and perform. Our passion and love for the outdoors is unchanged.”

A spokesperson for Vista Outdoor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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