The divide between corporate America and the gun lobby is growing

New York, NY — The rift between corporate America and the gun lobby is growing.

Retail heavyweights Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods have taken steps to restrict gun sales.

That follows moves by several other major corporations, including MetLife, Hertz and Delta Air Lines, that have cut ties with National Rifle Association following last month’s school massacre in Florida.

Dick’s said Wednesday it will immediately stop selling assault-style rifles and ban the sale of all guns to anyone under 21.

Its CEO took on the NRA by demanding tougher gun laws. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, followed by saying it will no longer sell firearms and ammunition to people younger than 21.

It had stopped selling AR-15s and other semi-automatic weapons in 2015.

The announcements from the major national retailers came as students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, returned to class for the first time since a teenager killed 17 students and educators with an AR-15 rifle two weeks ago.

“When we saw what the kids were going through and the grief of the parents and the kids who were killed in Parkland, we felt we needed to do something,”

Dick’s Chairman and CEO Ed Stack said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

The announcements from Dick’s and Walmart drew hundreds of thousands of responses for and against the moves on the companies’ social media accounts.