Kroger Makes a Big Change on Guns

Grocery chain doesn't want customers openly carrying in its stores anymore
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2019 10:24 AM CDT
Kroger: No More Open Carry in Our Stores
A customer exits a Kroger grocery store in Flowood, Miss., on June 26, 2019.   (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

On the same day Walmart made its big change regarding guns, Kroger made its own move: The grocery store chain no longer wants to be a place where "open carry" is OK. "Kroger is respectfully asking that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores, other than authorized law enforcement officers," a company VP said Tuesday in a statement obtained by Reuters. It's a change in policy for the chain, which previously followed state and local open-carry laws. The VP added, "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."

Walmart made the same request of its customers Tuesday, amid a recent spate of mass shootings, and also announced it would be limiting ammo sales and discontinuing the last of its handgun sales. Fox News notes that while the National Rifle Association hasn't yet commented on Kroger's decision, it did issue a statement on Walmart's: "Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America's fundamental freedoms. The truth is Walmart's actions today will not make us any safer. Rather than place the blame on the criminal, Walmart has chosen to victimize law-abiding Americans." The group added that it's "shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites." (More Kroger stories.)

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