Michael T Duke and Wal-Mart make a killing from the gun boom | People in the News | People

FIRST POSTED APRIL 20, 2009

they had. All of them were armed to the teeth."

Was this printed in Manhattan, or bleeding-heart San Francisco? No: it led the opinion page in the Tennessean.

Good Wal-Mart country, Tennessee. And in Wal-Mart, guns sell at the usual bargain prices. There are cowboy-type revolvers for $350, and 9mm pistols for $250 and up. But then look at the racks of hunting rifles: simple, bolt action weapons with plastic stocks and slugs big enough to drop a deer at three hundred yards, yours for $150.

Sales are up because now is the time to bear arms, not give them up

The National Rifle Association ('Guns don't kill people, people do') and the man behind the gun counter will point out that Wal-Mart sells no 'combat-style' semi-automatic weapons. Theirs are for hunting and 'self-protection' only.

What's more, ever since Wal-Mart was fined $14.5 million for violating gun sale laws in California in 2004, the company claims to video-record every sale and log all index numbers for identifying weapons used in crimes.

The problem is, that is irrelevant. Every single weapon used in this wave of mass murders, and every known weapon used in the rising tide of gun suicides in the last six months, has been a 'domestic' hand gun, shot gun or hunting rifle.

Will things change? No way: a Gallup poll showed support for gun controls at 29 per cent, the lowest for 50 years. Sales are up because now is the time a citizen needs to bear arms, not give them up.

And why should Duke tell Wal-Mart to start selling butter instead of guns? We know very little about him, but what we do know is that he got the top job for two reasons.

Wal-Mart's guns are for hunting and self-protection only

The first is that the company needed a new man at the helm because with President Obama in the White House they know his predecessor's notoriously hard line on union membership is not going to wash.

And secondly, as the head of Wal-Mart's international division, taking stores to India, China and around the globe, Duke sold $100 billion worth of Wal-Mart bargains in 2008, making more profit than anyone at home.

He was born in Georgia, and came to Wal-Mart after rising up the retail ladder at Macy's. He serves dutifully on the University of Arkansas Board of Advisors, and, with Orwellian aplomb, on the Executive Board of Conservation International's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business.

We have no idea what kind of rifle he uses to hunt the fabled Arkansas razorback hog, or even if he does hunt the razorback hog. But we do know from his official Wal-Mart biography that Duke and his wife, Susan, have two daughters and a son, and that "they are active in their church and community".

That's all right then: he must be praying that all those guns end up in the right, safe hands.

FIRST POSTED APRIL 20, 2009

Add to:

Comments

Hide comments

Charles Laurence You are 100% Stalincrat. Get the hell out of this country. While Wal Mart is far from sin, this is NOT one of them. We have the right to keep and bear arms. Armed people are not dangerous. They are protected. Could you have better spent your energy on discussing the unequal wage differences between corp. salaries and the associates who rely on government sponsored health care because they cannot afford the benefits Wal Mart offers? Oh wait...that's Socialism...you approve of that. Could you have written about the struggles of the Wal Mart workers who have no family life and struggle from check to check and are always kept in fear of losing their jobs? Ooops, wrong again. That's Socialism and you approve of that. Could you have written about how if the word "union" is mentioned inside (or outside) a Wal Mart by an associate they will be fired? Oops again! You'd be writing about freedom of speech...that's in that nasty old Constitution (the same one Rush Limbaugh uses). And please don't think I'm defending unions here. I'm NOT. Could you have written about the oppressed sweatshop workers who live as slaves, have no hope and work 12-15 hours per day for only pennies an hour in unspeakable conditions and are beaten, raped, murdered so that you can have your "savings" from Wal Mart?? Or do you tuck yourself nicely into bed at night on the sheets you saved $2 on and drift off into a nice ignorant sleep? Shame on you.

Posted by Veronica Deevers at 2:51pm on April 21, 2009

I support "Gun Control" legislation. I do not oppose the right to bear arms but I would greatly support any laws that require a stern scrutiny of every person wishing to purchase a firearm. If we require from every Americans that they study, learn & know all the traffic/road signs ... that they pass both a written and road tests BEFORE they are issued a Driver License ... then the same rules should apply to potential gun owners. They would be required to take a gun safety class, firing range pratice & applicable test to instill in their mind the danger & responsibilities of owning a firearm. Cars/trucks don't kill ... but bad drivers do ... the same goes with firearms! And what's the deal with wishing to purchase an armored piercing AK-47 and submachine gun for personal protection?? What's next ... grenades and rocket launchers? Let's put a stop to this nonsense. That's way beyond what our forefathers intented in preserving our individual constitional rights.

Posted by librophile at 6:34pm on April 21, 2009

Dear Veronica Deevers, Have you ever read your constituion??(the U.S.one?) It is solely a matter of interpretation. I mean most Americans I know act as if the Constitution has been handed down by the Divine and Holy.. lets face it they were just a bunch of Politicians that had special interests in mind. the Document seems fine for the age it was produced in, But HOLY WRIT? I think not.My comment in no way is meant to Disparage either yourself or your country. It is just my Opinion, Please Do not take offense> because none is intended.

Posted by sean@oz at 7:05am on April 24, 2009