On the heels of yet another school shooting, this time in Parkland, Florida, a couple of weeks ago, Walmart and then Dick’s Sporting Goods outlets announced that they would be raising the buying age for firearms to 21 years of age. Since that time, public opinion of the two chains has been mostly positive. Unlike our Republican legislators, Walmart and Dick’s are giving at least the impression that they care about who is allowed to buy a deadly weapon. But Talking Points Memo reports that a 20-year-old man in Oregon has decided to file an age discrimination lawsuit against the two stores, because they are now refusing to allow him to buy a rifle.
Tyler Watson, a 20-year-old from Gold Hill, Oregon, alleged in lawsuits filed separately against both retailers that they discriminated against him based on his age when they refused to sell him firearms.
Watson claimed that he attempted to purchase a .22 caliber Ruger rifle from Dick’s on Feb. 24 and then tried to buy a gun from Walmart on March 3. According to the lawsuit, both retailers refused to sell Watson a firearm because of his age. Oregon state law allows anybody to purchase rifles or shotguns starting at the age of 18, but federal law requires a person to be 21 in order to purchase a handgun, though that restriction does not extend to shotguns or rifles.
According to the lawsuit, Watson first attempted to purchase a rifle a couple of days before the official announcement by Dick’s (Feb. 28) that they would be raising the age. As far as things go, Watson’s lawsuit against Dick’s seems to have the most merit. Reuters published a statement from a Walmart spokesperson saying that Walmart felt just fine defending their position here, while Dick’s did not get back to them with a statement.
While federal age discrimination laws and those in most states apply only to people over 40, Oregon’s law generally prohibits age discrimination against the selling of goods to anyone above the age of 18, said John Donohue, a professor at Stanford Law School.
“It is only because of this unusual state law that there is even an opportunity to bring this claim,” he said.
