Dick’s Sporting Goods Hired Three Gun Control Lobbyists In April

The sporting goods store, under fire for refusing to sell rifles to anyone under the age of 21, is now officially lobbying Congress for gun control, according to federal lobbying activity records.

MAY 2, 2018 By Sean Davis

Dick’s Sporting Goods, which announced in February it would no longer sell rifles to anyone under the age of 21, hired three Beltway lobbyists to lobby Congress for gun control, according to federal records reviewed by The Federalist.

The lobbying records show Dick’s hired two Democrats and one Republican from Glover Park Group, a DC-based government affairs firm, for “[l]obbying related to gun control.” No other policy issues were listed in the disclosure form filed by the firm. The disclosure forms show Dick’s pro-gun control lobbying effort began official on April 27, 2018. The official registration form noting Dick’s retention of Glover to push for gun control was filed on Monday morning.

The three lobbyists tapped by Dick’s to push for gun control are listed by name in the federal disclosure forms, which are required by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to be filed quarterly: Joel Johnson, who worked for both President Bill Clinton and Senate Democrat leadership; Andrew King, who worked for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); and Christina Brown, a former staffer for Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).

Prior to retaining Glover Park Group to push for gun control, Dick’s Sporting Goods retained the services of CSA Strategies LLC, which pushed for issues such as tax reform, cybersecurity, and patent litigation reform on behalf of Dick’s during the four-year relationship between the two companies. Both firms are headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

CSA is helmed by Alex Urrea, a former Republican staffer on the House Financial Services committee. Dick’s relationship with CSA was terminated effective January 31, 2018, but was not made public until early April, lobbying records show.

In February, Dick’s CEO announced the sporting goods chain would no longer sell rifles to anyone under the age of 21, even though such sales are perfectly legal under federal law.