Thank goodness for all the Publix and Winn Dixies in Alabama. Looks like I have to boycott Wal-Mart now... not that I haven't cut back on shopping there significantly over the past few years anyway.

http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/guns/walmart-bars-sales-of-ar-15s-self-defense-shotguns/

For what it's worth, I'll add this to the discussion:
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/08/25/wal-mart-abandons-ar-15-shooters-good/
In summary, Wal-Mart says it was purely a business decision based on demand.

I still call B.S. on the corporate response.

The Pell City Walmart always had 6 to 8 AR's in the display case that never would sell until they were put on clearance. I was told by a sporting goods employee that the type of guns ordered was up to the sporting goods manager. I can see them not carrying a product due to poor sales, they had a Bushmaster patrol carbine that the original price was $999. Who would pay that when you can get a Colt 6920 cheaper in a dozen other places?

When you can build a good quality AR for less than Wal-Mart's clearance price on their Colt's, why would you pay Wal-Mart's regular price? Or, when plenty of gun shops are selling complete, brand-new, AR's for less than Wal-Mart. The people who run Wal-Mart are smart business people. That's how Wal-Mart got to be as big as it is. They pride themselves on being the low price leader. If they can't maintain that position because of market conditions outside their control, they'll leave the market. That's all that happened here. It wasn't anything nefarious. It was free market capitalism at work.

Larry's Pistol and Pawn in Huntsville sells Diamondback AR's for about $5-600. That's significantly less than Wal-Mart's price for Colts or Windham Weaponry. Granted, most everybody here understands that there are significant differences between the brands. But, do you think the average Wal-Mart customer knows, or even cares? All Wal-Mart sees are brands of what they consider to be a homogeneous product being old for less than they can purchase the brands they stock. When other dealers can sell something cheaper than Wal-Mart can buy it, Wal-Mart isn't going to carry it. Now, they may have even looked into carrying the lower priced brands. My guess, though, would be that if they did so, they likely found that those brands (Diamondback, Doublestar, etc) couldn't produce enough to supply all of Wal-Mart's needs at a price Wal-mart was willing to pay.

I kind of regret not going in the Pell City store more often after I heard they were going to clearance the AR's. I am curious how much they dropped the prices after seeing the thread here in GD.

Yup - I work part time at Larry's in Hsv. Fact is people buy ten cheap guns to every mid range one and twenty five cheap ones to an expensive one.

Which is the reason companies such as Hi-Point, SCCY, Diamondback, Kel-Tec, and the like thrive, despite the low price points of their products-sales volume. It's also why smaller FFL's like to carry those products. They know that the profit margin, while low in dollar amount, is so high in percentages and the number they'll sell will also be high, that they'll make just as much selling Hi-Point CF9's as they will selling Glock 19's.

Wal-Mart only cares about the bottom dollar.  The guns just weren't selling.  The only exception to the bottom dollar rule is if store associates try to unionize and then Wal-Mart will spare no expense to make sure those folks are given the opportunity to seek jobs elsewhere.