Wal-Mart stores sell out of guns in some states in wake of Sandy Hook school massacre

Semi-automatic rifles are sold out at many Wal-Mart stores and prices for handgun magazines are surging on EBay in the wake of President Barack Obama endorsement of sweeping gun restrictions linked to the Newtown school shootings.

According to Bloomberg, a day after Walmart said it would continue to sell guns, searches of five kinds of semi-automatic rifles like the one used to kill 26 people — most of them kids aged 6 or 7 — at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut showed them to be out of stock at stores in five states.

Those states included Pennsylvania, Kansas and Alabama, identified by the Walmart requirement that customers input a zip code to see if their local store carries a specific weapon.

Meanwhile, the Huffington Post has published a semisatirical story on  items that Walmart "apparently considers more dangerous that assault weapons." 

It includes:

• a pregnant Barbie doll
• Prince's 1988 album Lovesexy
• the morning-after pill
• The Daily Show's book with a cover featuring host Jon Stewart
• copies of the documenrary "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War"

Bloomberg, meantime, quoted David Tovar, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, as saying:

"We remain dedicated to the safe and responsible sale of firearms in areas of the country where they are sold." 

By contrast, Dick's Sporting Goods said it had suspended the sale of certain semiautomatic rifles from its 511 stores in 44 states "out of respect for the victims and their families," CNN reported. 

It had removed all guns from its store near Newtown, the company said. 

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