The Delaware Department of Justice pushed forward an investigation into Cabela's sporting goods store in the Christiana Mall in Newark, Delaware after thousands of rounds of ammunition have, reportedly, gone missing.
This week, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings took further steps by formally requesting that the state's superior court enforce a subpoena against Cabela's after the retailer failed to respond to the court document.
According to Jennings' office, her department is investigating whether Cabela's violated Delaware's firearms industry public nuisance law through, what the office called "its hands-off approach to the shoplifting of ammunition from its Christiana location."
Investigators claim the location kept ammunition unsecured in the middle of the sales floor and made no apparent efforts to stop shoplifting.
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Though, Jennings' office noted, after her office sent Cabela’s a subpoena, the company relocated ammunition in the Christiana Mall store to behind a sales counter.
"In the wrong hands, a single round of ammunition can take a life — but Cabela’s watched a half-million rounds walk out the door,” Attorney General Jennings saidin a press release. “Ammo isn’t candy. It shouldn’t be left on a sales floor without a meaningful effort to deter shoplifting. Our team has already gotten results and led Cabela’s to store its ammunition more safely, but our investigation isn’t over.”
In a statement, Jennings office said that investigators believe that at least 500,000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from Cabela’s in less than a year, and that a substantial portion of it "was sold to drug dealers and other criminals in Delaware and Pennsylvania."
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An investigation into if Cabela's violated the Keshall “KeKe” Anderson Safe Firearms Sales Act is also underway.
The Act stems from the 2016 shooting of innocent bystanders KeKe Anderson who was shot by a firearm bought through a straw purchase at Cabela's.
Jennings' office claims that Cabela’s has, so far, "failed to promptly or meaningfully respond" to the subpoena.
As of Tuesday morning, Cabela's had not returned calls seeking comment.
