Would You Like To Shop, Dine, Or Stay Here? Leave Your Guns At Home

Guns. Americans are obsessed with guns, the power to kill, and the right to possess lethal firepower.

In most American states you can carry a weapon openly wherever you go.

According to Giffords Law Center: 

Carrying openly visible guns in public can quickly turn arguments fatal, be used to intimidate and suppress the First Amendment rights of others, and create confusion for law enforcement responding to shootings. Despite the evidence that openly carrying firearms endangers public safety, most states lack laws to limit open carry—and some have even taken steps to weaken the regulation of visible guns in public.

While an overwhelming majority of Americans favor background checks and a sizeable number also favor a ban of assault weapons, nothing is being done on the federal level to combat this wave of terror perpetrated by angry white men.

Once again, corporations are acting as guardians of the public. With the lack of government oversight and a long history of dangerous deregulation that have fed one problem after the next, what choice do companies who want to remain in business have? They need to protect shoppers and to do that, new rules and new thinking must be adopted.

American Retailers Respond to the Gun Crisis

CNBC reports that Kroger is reconsidering its “Open Carry” stance.

“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 an emailed statement.

“A year ago, Kroger made the conscious decision to completely exit the firearm and ammunition business when we stopped selling them in our Fred Meyer stores in the Pacific Northwest,” she also said. “Kroger has demonstrated with our actions that we recognize the growing chorus of Americans who are no longer comfortable with the status quo and who are advocating for concrete and common-sense gun reforms.”

Walmart is also weighing in and given the weight of the world’s largest retailer and America’s largest employer, the moves are significant. According to MarketWatch, the discounter will stop selling short-barrel and handgun ammunition after it runs out of its current inventory. It will also discontinue handgun sales in Alaska, marking its complete exit from handguns and allowing it to focus on hunting rifles and related ammunition only.

Shotguns and Rifles Are for Hunters

Emphasizing the distinction between gun types and the types of gun buyers, Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon circulated an email to employees Tuesday afternoon that said, “We have a long heritage as a company of serving responsible hunters and sportsmen and women, and we’re going to continue doing so.”

Walmart’s moves will reduce its market share of ammunition from around 20% to a range of about 6% to 9%. About half of its more than 4,000 U.S. stores currently sell firearms.

In 2015, Walmart stopped selling semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 style rifle.

Previously on Adpulp.com: Ads That Help Sell Assault Weapons Reveal All | In A Dallas Courtroom, The N.R.A. and Ackerman McQueen Meet Again