WASHINGTON — Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest seller of firearms, announced Monday it will toughen rules for gun sales, from storing video of purchases to creating an internal log of which guns it sells that are later used in crimes.
J.P. Suarez, the chief compliance officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., appeared with outspoken gun-control advocate Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, to announce the changes at a gathering of Bloomberg’s group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Changes to come at about 1,100 Wal-Mart stores selling guns include:
• Creating a record and alert system to record when a gun sold at Wal-Mart is later used in a crime.
If the purchaser of that gun later tries to buy another gun at Wal-Mart, the system would alert the sales clerk to the prior buy and could refuse to make the sale.
• Retaining the recorded images of gun sales in case law enforcement wants to view them as part of an investigation.
• Expanding background checks of employees who handle guns and expanding inventory controls.
Suarez said the tougher standards will come with some additional costs to the company.
