LI activists stage ‘shop-in’ to support Dick’s Sporting Goods gun sale restrictions

Thirty Long Islanders staged a “shop-in” at a Dick’s Sporting Goods branch in Commack on Saturday afternoon to show their support for the company’s decision to restrict gun sales after last month’s deadly school shooting in Florida.

The activist shoppers bought running socks, T-shirts, swim caps and other goods to express their gratitude for the change of policy by the national retail chain.

“This senseless loss of life is no longer acceptable,” Eve Krief, one of the event’s organizers, said to the crowd gathered in front of the store.

“We thank you Dick’s for taking action when congress has not,” said Krief, 49, of Centerport.

The Pennsylvania-based company announced Wednesday that it would stop selling assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines — as well as any firearms to people under 21 — after the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

“Thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Ed Stack, chief executive of Dick’s, wrote in a statement. “We have to help solve the problem that’s in front of us.”

Among those in attendance Saturday was Paul Guttenberg, whose niece, Jaime Guttenberg, was killed in the Florida shooting.

“It shattered my family,” said Guttenberg, 49, of Commack.

“The only way I can accept it and deal with it is to push back and fight.”

The idea for the event originated in a Facebook thread between local friends and activists, said Greenlawn’s Gae Polisner, 53, one of the organizers.

Once hatched, the plan was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, even beyond Polisner’s friends, she said.

Dick’s is one of many companies that has sought to address gun violence since the Parkland shooting. Walmart also announced it would no longer sell guns to people under 21, while companies such as Delta Air Lines and Hertz car rental have stopped offering discounts to members of the National Rifle Association — actions that have drawn criticism as well as praise.

Monique Gaylor, who first pitched the idea for Saturday’s event, which she termed a “shop-in,” said it was meant as a form of “positive reinforcement.”

“I’ve spent so much time since the election withholding my economic activity from commercial actors who aren’t responsible,” said Gaylor, 57, of Huntington.

“It really feels good to have an opportunity to reward a corporation for doing the right thing.”

Dick’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment. The store manager declined to comment.

Participant Zoe Krief, 15, said the frequency of school shootings in the United States had led her to wonder whether one could happen at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, where she is a sophomore.

“It always crosses my mind that it could happen,” said Krief, Eve Krief’s daughter.

She praised the decision by Dick’s, and called for more activism around gun violence.

“There has to be something done,” said Krief. “It’s just not acceptable anymore.”

At another event Saturday, Malik Nadeem Abid and several other Long Island Muslims presented a Muslim response to the Florida tragedy.

“We want to be part of any solution, any effort to bring down the pain and suffering of the community,” Abid, a Valley Stream businessman, said before he and about 35 people — most Pakistani immigrants or their children — prayed at a Hempstead village seniors club and spoke of the need for more gun control.

“We are part of the mosaic of society on Long Island,” he said.

Abid, New York chapter president of the California-based American Muslim Voice Foundation, said the event also was to “fight against the stereotyping” of Muslims as violent.

“If a Muslim walks into the nightclub and starts shooting, that becomes Islamic terrorism,” Abid said. “That’s unfair. We do not condone any violence or terrorism.”

With David Olson