Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day,” Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO Edward Stack explained the reasoning behind the company’s decision to stop selling assault-style rifles and high capacity magazines.

Stack said, “We think it is the right thing to do. After Parkland, we were so disturbed and saddened by what happened in Parkland that we said we need to do something. We talked ability what we needed to do, and we felt we needed to make a statement that we will no longer sell assault-type rifles, high capacity magazines, and a few other things.Our hearts went out to those kids and to their parents. Everybody talks about thoughts and prayers going out to them, and that’s great, but that doesn’t really do anything. We felt we needed to take a stand and do this.”

He added, “We expected there will be backlash here but when you look at those kids and their parents and the grief everyone is going through, we don’t want to be a part of this story any longer. We actually sold the shooter a shotgun in November of last year. We looked at that and found out we did this, we had a pit in our stomach. We said we don’t want to be a part of this story. We need a responsibility to these kids, and we decided we’re not going to sell these anymore.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN