Dana Safety Supply, a well known police supplier of clothing, guns, and gear, with an outlet in Sugar Hill, Georgia, sells firearms to non-police officers. Recently, however, it announced that it would stop selling self loading rifles to anybody but "Law Enforcement individuals." Dana Safety Supply states that they will still sell bolt action and lever action rifles as well as pistols and revolvers to non-law enforcement individuals. What this means is that Dana Safety Supply will no longer sell an AR15 rifle unless the purchaser is a police officer. This new policy has ruffled the feathers of Georgia citizens who buy guns, many of whom declared that they will no longer hand their money over to Dana Safety Supply. One of those citizens is Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry, last year's President of the Georgia Sheriff's Association.
Sheriff Berry sent the following letter to Dana Safety Supply:
Sirs,
It is my understanding that you have stopped selling self loading rifles to members of the general public in favor of selling them to law enforcement officers only.
I deeply regret that decision. As such, this agency will no longer seek bids from or purchase from DSS.
Thank you for your time and attention to this email.
Sheriff Scott Berry
Oconee County Georgia Sheriffs Office
The Sheriff said that Dana Safety Supply was "an excellent source of products that we buy," but he could not condone and support the retailer's new policy.
The Sheriff said that he would not have written the letter if the retailer were simply trying to hold onto existing inventory to fulfill pending law enforcement contracts, "but to refuse to sell any self loading rifle to a citizen is just too much for me to bear."
The Sheriff's letter went "viral" on the internet last night, as activists for the right to bear arms posted his letter in online forums. He said there has been a huge outpouring of support for his action from the general public, but so far, no response whatsoever from Dana Safety Supply.
The Sheriff is resolved to hold firm on his decision not to purchase equipment from the retailer. While he affirmed that he likes the local management and staff, he emphasized that responsibility for any negative effects fall squarely in the lap of Dana Safety Supply's corporate owner, Scott-McRae Group. "Their corporate position is just something that Dana Safety Supply will have to live with," said Sheriff Berry, "or change."
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