Walmart to remove violent videogame displays, signs
While the country grapples with what causes mass shootings that have plagued our country, Walmart said it is removing some video game displays from its stores.
USA Today reported that stores across the country are being told to remove any displays with "violent themes."
The memo sent out to the stores circulated on Twitter and Reddit, and Walmart officials confirmed its authenticity Thursday.
Walmart said it's "out of respect for the incidents of the past week."
RELATED: El Paso Walmart shooting victims: What we know about those killed, injured
Last week 22 people were killed and several others injured when a gunman opened fired at an El Paso Walmart.
President Trump mentioned video games as a possible cause of gun violence but studies have shown little or no connection.
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Walmart has ordered workers to remove video game signs and displays that depict violence from stores nationwide after 22 people died in a shooting at one of its Texas stores but will continue to sell guns.
In an internal memo, the retailer told employees to remove any violent marketing material, unplug Xbox and PlayStation consoles that show violent video games and turn off any violence depicted on screens in its electronics departments.
Employees also were asked to shut off hunting season videos in the sporting goods department where guns are sold. "Remove from the salesfloor or turn off these items immediately," the memo said.
Walmart will still sell the violent video games and hasn't made any changes to its gun sales policy, despite pressure from workers, politicians, and activists to do so.
"We've taken this action out of respect for the incidents of the past week," Walmart spokeswoman Tara House said in an email. She declined to answer any questions beyond the statement.
"That is a non-answer and a non-solution," said Thomas Marshall, who works at Walmart's e-commerce division in San Bruno, California, and has helped organize a petition to get the company to stop selling guns. He said they plan to email the petition, which has more than 53,000 signatures, to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on Friday.
After the massacre at the El Paso Walmart this weekend, McMillon said the company "will be thoughtful and deliberate in our responses."
After the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school last year, Walmart Inc. banned sales of firearms and ammunition to people younger than 21. It had stopped selling AR-15s and other semi-automatic weapons in 2015, citing weak sales.
The massacre in El Paso was followed by another shooting hours later in Dayton, Ohio, that killed nine people.
President Donald Trump blamed "gruesome and grisly video games" for encouraging violence Monday, but there is no known link between violent video games and violent acts.
The United States has had 254 mass shootings --instances of four or more people being shot in individual outbreaks -- in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That's more mass shootings than days so far this year.
Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University, said the move to hide violent imagery in stores was "a cheap attempt to distract consumers and the media from the real issue, which is, Walmart continues to sell guns."
Other companies have made changes after the shootings. ESPN postponed the airing of an esports competition for shooting game "Apex Legends." And NBC Universal pulled some ads for its upcoming movie "The Hunt," which depicted characters hunting and shooting at each other.
The killings have put the country on edge.
On Thursday, panicked shoppers fled a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, after a man carrying a rifle and wearing body armor walked around the store before being stopped by an off-duty firefighter.
Walmart spokesperson Tara House has released the following statement to ABC:
"We've taken this action out of respect for the incidents of the past week, and it does not reflect a long-term change in our video game assortment. We are focused on assisting our associates and their families, as well as supporting the community, as we continue a thoughtful and thorough review of our policies."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
