In a statement on Thursday, Walgreens announced it is “joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials.”
Walgreens took things a step further, taking to social media and posting a tweet praising anti-gun violence advocacy group Moms Demand Action and its founder Shannon Watts.
UPDATE! Walgreens has joined the growing number of leading retailers who are strengthening their gun policies and saying NO to open carry at their establishments! MomsDemand) September 5, 2019
And right about the same time, CVS Health joined with Walgreens in announcing a similar decision on open carry in their stores:
CVS Health Updates Firearms in Stores Policy 0ODx6ewJNX
— CVS Health (@CVSHealth) September 5, 2019
CVS and Walgreens are the largest and second-largest pharmacy chains in the U.S., with thousands of stores in places where customers may be opposed to restrictions on when and where they can carry guns, but all have now aligned themselves with the movement for gun reforms.
“Prohibiting open carry sends a very strong cultural signal that companies are siding with the safety of families,” said Shannon Watts, founder of advocacy group Moms Demand Action, which has spent years pushing these and other companies to stop allowing open carry, according to CNN News.
“They know their customers are with them on this … they want to be on the right side of history but they also know that these actions are good for business,” Watts said.
Also on Thursday, Wegmans, a privately held American supermarket chain headquartered in Rochester, New York, announced it would “prefer” customers not openly carry firearms in its stores.
There’s nothing more important than the safety of our customers & employees. The sight of someone with a gun can be alarming, and we don’t want anyone to feel that way at Wegmans. For this reason, we prefer that customers not openly carry firearms into our stores.
— Wegmans Food Markets (@Wegmans) September 5, 2019
Wegmans made their announcement on Twitter after getting pressure from groups advocating for changes to open carry policies in light of the mass shootings in America.
In September 2013, Starbucks asked customers to not carry guns in their stores after a mass shooting left more than a dozen dead at Washington Navy Yard. And in 2014, Target started asking customers not to bring firearms into stores, according to CNBC News.
