TOP GUN REATILERS CHANGE POLICIES: WHILE REPUBLICAN STAY SILENT

By Joanna Williams

While we wait…wait… wait for Republicans to do anything on gun control (House Democrats have passed and sent to the Republican controlled Senate several measures addressing gun violence), America’s largest retailers are rethinking their gun policies after the mass shootings this summer in states including California, Texas and Ohio.

Here is a description of gun policies for a number of the largest US retailers:

1.      Retailers that ban firearms:

- Costco

2.      Retailers that request customers not openly carry firearms:

- Walmart (who also recently halted the sale of handgun and certain ammunition)
- Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Target, Albertsons, Publix, Aldi, Meijer, Starbucks

3.       Retailers with no explicit gun restrictions:

- TJX (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods)
- Macy’s

4.      Retailers who did not respond to the survey:

- Amazon stores, Lowe’s, Apple stores, Best Buy, Dollar General, McDonald’s, Kohl’s, 
  Ace Hardware, 7-Eleven, At & T, Verizon.

In addition, 145 CEOs recently signed a letter urging the Republican controlled Senate to act on gun control by passing legislation already introduced by Democrats.

So while we wait….wait…wait for Republicans to act, one thing we CAN do is thank those retailers who have policies to ban or restrict open carry guns, and urge retailers who don’t have restrictions to change their policies.