A recent decision to stop the sale of assault rifles at U.S. Coast Guard exchanges, including two in Alaska, was based on low sales and was not the result of mass shootings or the political debate over the availability of the weapons, an official said this week.
"The Coast Guard Exchange System has removed sporting semiautomatic rifles from all four of its stores that handle firearm sales. The decision to do so was based on financial reasons made after a review of sales over many months," said Lt. Cmdr. Dave French, chief of media relations. "This decision enables the Exchange System to free up valuable shelf space for other higher margin merchandise."
Such rifles made up about 10 percent of the weapons sold at the four Coast Guard exchanges that carry firearms, including those in Kodiak and Ketchikan. The other two are in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, and Mobile, Alabama, according to the Coast Guard.
The exchanges sell products at bases and online, ranging from clothing to wireless speakers. They sell to members of the Coast Guard, their families and veterans.
The directive to remove the guns was made last week, officials said.
The Kodiak Daily Mirror initially reported the story, which said the Kodiak exchange had sold about 100 guns so far in 2016. Six of those were assault-style, according to the article.
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John Riley, chief operating officer for Coast Guard exchanges, was quoted by the Mirror as saying the June 12 shooting at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub during which 49 people were killed was a "tipping point" in the choice to stop the sales, though the change had been considered for several months.
"Obviously, every time some type of event happens in which an assault-style rifle was used, typically an AR-15 — although that's not what we carry, but a similar style, that semi-automatic with a higher-capacity magazine — we end up spending a lot of time researching what we have and what's going on," Riley told the paper. It did not make sense to continue the sales, he said.
But French said the decision had nothing to do with the shooting.
"The Coast Guard does not take an official position in the nation's ongoing debate over the availability of these types of weapons," French said.
Sporting rifles last year accounted for only $50,000 in sales, French said. The rifles were described as a niche product, with the exchanges selling an average of fewer than one per week.
The Coast Guard intends to shape business at the exchanges more around outdoor lifestyle products like camping and fishing gear, French said.