Fred Meyer announces it is phasing out the sale of all firearms and ammo

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Fred Meyer announced Friday it has decided to phase out the sale of all firearms and ammunition at its stores.

"The company made the decision early last week after evaluating changing customer preferences and the fact that there have already been efforts to steadily reduce this category in Fred Meyer stores over the last several years due to softening consumer demand," the company said in a news release.

"More recently, Fred Meyer has been transitioning away from gun departments as a result of the ongoing work to optimize space in Fred Meyer stores. The firearms category represents about $7 million annually of Fred Meyer's revenue - and sales continue to decline," it said.

Based in Portland, Fred Meyer -- a division of The Kroger Co. -- has 132 multi-department stores in four western states: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

On March 1, Kroger announced that it was raising the minimum age to buy guns at its Fred Meyer stores, the third major retailer to place restrictions on gun sales that exceed federal law.

Like Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods a day earlier, Kroger said it would immediately limit gun and ammunition sales to people 21 and older.

The nation's largest grocery chain said Thursday that recent events show that gun retailers need to take action. It was referring to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida where a troubled teenager killed 17 people there, mostly children.

Fred Meyer sells guns at 44 stores in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska. Assault-style guns sales were ended everywhere but Alaska several years ago. Special orders for those guns are now unavailable in Alaska.