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Walmart is returning guns and ammunition back to its shelves after removing them from display as a safety precaution, citing this week's "isolated civil unrest."

The retailer had instructed its stores Wednesday to take firearms 

 to a secure location in the back, to be sold upon request. The move happened following 

 after the police fatally shot a Black man on Monday.

Walmart earlier did not specify how long it would keep weapons off the sales floors, prompting widespread speculation the retailer was also heeding 

Now the company says the action was prompted by damage this week to some of its stores, and that it's ready to restore guns and ammunition to their displays.

"As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today," Walmart said in a statement Friday.

The company sells firearms in about half of its 4,700 stores in the United States. It also temporarily took down firearm displays earlier this year when several Walmart stores were damaged during a nationwide wave of civil unrest after George Floyd, another Black man, was killed by police in Minneapolis. 

Business and Economic News

Alina Selyukh

Author

Walmart is returning guns and ammunition back to display shelves after earlier citing "isolated civil unrest" as the reason for temporarily taking them out of view as a safety precaution.

In reversal, Walmart puts guns back on display

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