“In a world of Walmarts….be a Rural King.”

Walmart is trying to look less rural. A little more Madison Avenue…a little less Bentonville, Arkansas. 

In a very carefully worded media release this week , Walmart said it would no longer sell ammo that can be used in military style assault rifles. That is old news. Walmart doesn’t sell real guns anymore….just air pistols and rifles.  They also said they would discourage customers from openly carrying weapons in their stores.

Walmart’s new stance opened the door to the marketing folks at Rural King, a company headquartered here in Illinois. Rural King put an open letter to their customers saying, in part, “they will continue to sell firearms lawfully in all our stores and on-line.” In other words, take that Walmart, we are going to get cozy with the Second Amendment crowd.

Rural King’s Facebook message went out under the heading, “In a world of Walmarts….be a Rural King.” It was shared thousands of times.

Walmart has accomplished very little but anger their core customers, the people who made the company a behemoth.  And along the way they’ve made a lot of money selling guns and ammunition to America.

By the way, I asked local authorities about Walmart’s open handgun ban. Walmart can’t, and won’t stop duly-licensed customers with concealed firearms. To do so would be ludicrous for obvious reasons.

This week’s media blast was more about politics than it was about substance. It was a statement designed to change Walmart’s image and gain acceptance among the social elite.

I think it was a failed effort.