There is a strong anti-Second Amendment bias running through the veins of several American stores lately. Some, like Walmart and Dick’s, have decided age discrimination is a viable strategy to virtue signal. Others like Kroger have hoisted their flags in other ways.

So, when store chain Fred Meyer announced they were out of the firearm business as well, the kneejerk reaction by some was to assume it was virtue signaling as well.

Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Superstore company Fred Meyer will stop selling guns and ammunition.

The Portland, Oregon, -based chain in a statement Friday said it made the decision after evaluating customer preferences. The company sells guns at nearly 45 of its 132 stores in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

“Fred Meyer has made a business decision to exit the firearms category,” the company said. “We are currently working on plans to responsibly phase out sales of firearms and ammunition.”

Of course, those who remain skeptical do have a good reason. After all…

The company, a subsidiary of Cincinnati, Ohio,-based Kroger Co., didn’t give a timeline in the statement. Fred Meyer spokesman Jeffery Temple in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday said the company wasn’t offering interviews.

Interesting, no?

However, the company maintains that its decision had nothing to do with Parkland. Fred Meyers was set to follow Walmart and Dick’s in discriminating against adult Americans but decided to just get out of the gun business entirely.

The company said the firearms category represents about $7 million annually of its revenue and sales have been declining.

“We made the decision early last week after evaluating changing customer preferences and the fact that we’ve been steadily reducing this category in our Fred Meyer stores over the last several years due to softening consumer demand,” the company said. “More recently we have been transitioning away from gun departments as a result of our ongoing work to optimize space in our Fred Meyer stores.”

Frankly, I can accept making a business decision to not sell guns. Most so-called superstores only seem to sell a few guns and, if my local Walmart is any indication, there’s never anyone there to actually sell you the damn gun in the first place. If that’s the norm at most of these places, then there’s little reason to assume guns would ever generate much revenue for them.

So, are they virtue signaling or not?

I’m inclined to think not. After all, they were virtue signaling when they decided to follow Dick’s lead and raise the age they’d sell guns to, so if this was a decision motivated by pandering to the anti-gun left, I have to believe they’d admit it. They’re saying no such thing, so I believe them.

It’s a shame, though. They only sold guns at 45 of 135 locations and then wonder why firearm sales aren’t a bigger part of their revenue stream. It makes you wonder just where they sold them and how that might have impacted sales as well. After all, you’re going to do a lot better selling guns in a store in rural Montana than you would in New York City.

Either way, they’ve made their decision. I suspect it won’t even amount to a ripple for the most part.