Hogue Joins Companies Cutting Ties With Dick's

Hogue, by virtue of the breadth of products it sells, wasn’t likely to feel much of an impact from moves by companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods. After all, it’s not like the sporting goods chain was going to stop selling handguns, and when I think of Hogue, I tend to think of handguns.

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Now, that’s not all that Hogue sells, mind you, but it’s what comes to mind.

However, Hogue also sells things like grips for AR-15s. Perhaps that’s why it decided to join other companies in cutting off the chain for its anti-gun stance.

Hogue said they are distancing themselves from Dick’s Sporting Goods and their Field & Stream affiliate, removing them as an authorized dealer of Hogue products. In a statement, Hogue leadership said the retailer brought it on themselves with their recent decisions to no longer offer standard capacity magazines, restrict the minimum age of rifle buyers to 21, and hiring lobbyists to advance gun control efforts.

“Hogue has a long-standing tradition of supporting American enthusiasts with top quality firearm accessories and refuses to work with any organization who supports restricting the rights our Founders fought to provide and protect,” said third-generation managing owner, Neil Hogue.

Over the past half-century, Hogue has been known for their handgun grips but in recent has have expanded their product line to include rifle stocks, knives, holsters and gear bags among others. Dick’s currently lists a number of Hogue grips in their catalog, as does Field & Stream.

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More and more, it’s looking like Dick’s might as well fold its firearm sales departments and focus on stuff like basketballs and tents, because as things are going, it’s not going to have any firearms left. Nor will it have any accessories, from the look of things.

At least then it won’t be hypocritical on guns since it won’t be selling them anymore while trying to restrict its customers’ rights, though not by choice.

The truth is, the firearm industry is made of up people from the firearm community, by and large. When you make a decision that will rile that community up, the industry gets wrapped up in it as well.

Now, companies aren’t likely to jump off a ship if it means the company is going to take too deep of a hit. At least, not most of the time. No one expects them to. Not really.

However, Dick’s was one of the dozens of large retailers out there, and I suspect it was far from the only source of revenue for many of these companies. I fully suspect that others are looking at the revenue and where it comes from in an effort to figure out if they can afford to cut Dick’s off. As such, I expect to see more and more of these companies announcing they will no longer sell to Dick’s Sporting Goods.

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The fact is, Dick’s has a right to sell whatever products it wants. No one really cares, in the grand scheme of things.

Yet when you pop off on the Second Amendment as a whole, even going so far as to hire lobbyists to push for laws that will restrict the right of law-abiding Americans, you’ve crossed a line.

Frankly, I don’t care if Dick’s goes out of business or not. I really don’t care what kind of a financial hit it takes because of this crap, though I still think it will take one.

What I care about is knowing exactly who my friends are when it comes to my civil liberties, and Dick’s damn sure isn’t on that list. Companies like Hogue and the others who have already cut ties, on the other hand, clearly are.

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