Wal-Mart won’t sell AR-15s, other semi-automatic weapons

Wal-Mart announced Wednesday that its stores will no longer carry the AR-15 and other semi-automatic sporting rifles because they do not sell very well, according to The Associated Press.

“It’s based on what customers are looking for and what they were buying when they come into Wal-Mart,” spokesman Kory Lundberg said. “It’s very similar to what we do with other products. If there’s not customer demand there, we’ll phase out.”

{mosads}The store will plan to stock more weapons such as shotguns instead.

Wal-Mart CEO Douglas McMillon previously hinted that the move might be coming.

“Our focus in terms of firearms should be hunters and people who shoot sporting clays, and things like that,” McMillon told CNNMoney in June. “So the types of riles we sell, the types of ammunition we sell, should be curated for those things.”

Although Wal-Mart says the decision is not political, timing of the announcement coincides with a growing national debate about gun violence.

AR-15s have been used in several mass shootings, including those in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo.

The announcement also comes on the same day that two television journalists were shot on-air near Roanoke, Va.