DETROIT — Michigan-based grocer Meijer is joining other big name retailers in asking customers not to open-carry guns in their stores.
America’s largest retailers are retooling their gun policies after a spate of mass shootings over the summer in California, Texas and Ohio.
After issuing a review of their policy last week, Meijer came out Monday on Twitter with an updated policy.
The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, so we respectfully request that our customers do not open carry firearms at Meijer. We’ve made this decision because open carry can create an environment that makes our customers and team members feel unsafe.
— Meijer (@meijer) September 9, 2019
Meijer has more than 200 stores across the Midwest.
The announcement comes a week after Walmart asked customers not to open carry in their stores, and it said it would stop the sale of handguns and short-barrel rifle ammunition.
Here’s a list of retailers that have stores in Michigan and have asked customers not to open-carry:
1. Walmart
Click here to read the announcement to employees
2. Meijer
"The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, so we respectfully request that our customers do not open carry firearms at Meijer. We’ve made this decision because open carry can create an environment that makes our customers and team members feel unsafe.
3. Kroger
“Kroger is respectfully asking that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores, other than authorized law enforcement officers,” Jessica Adelman, group vice president of corporate affairs, said in a statement. “We are also joining those encouraging our elected leaders to pass laws that will strengthen background checks and remove weapons from those who have been found to pose a risk for violence.”
4. Walgreens
"We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials."
5. CVS
"We support the efforts of individuals and groups working to prevent gun violence, and continually review our policies and procedures to ensure our stores remain a safe environment," the statement from CVS reads. "We join a growing chorus of businesses in requesting that our customers, other than authorized law enforcement personnel, do not bring firearms into our stores."
6. Target
Target established its policy prohibiting weapons in its stores in 2014. Then CEO John Mulligan said, “Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create.”
Costco, which is a membership-based retailer, has outright banned members from bringing firearms into its locations unless they are “authorized law enforcement officers.”
