Credit: CP photo: Jared Murphy

As the debate rages in Washington, D.C. over how gun laws should be reformed, many large corporations are weighing in and urging action.

Credit card giant Visa publicly urged Congress to enact expanded background checks and “red flag” laws that remove guns from people who may present dangers to others. Large retailers such as Aldi, CVS, Target, Costco, Walmart, and Walgreens have recently issued statements asking customers to stop open-carrying guns inside their stores.

Yesterday, they were joined by Pittsburgh-based grocery chain Giant Eagle.

“Giant Eagle has a longstanding policy that guides our Team Members on instances when someone shares a concern about a customer who openly carries a firearm in our store,” reads a statement. “Giant Eagle has made the decision to update this policy, stating the company’s preference that customers not openly carry firearms in any of our Giant Eagle, Market District or GetGo locations.”

Giant Eagle added in the statement that the company is “committed to creating a safe and comfortable working and shopping experience” and that it respects the rights of individuals customers but also recognizes the heightened concerns of shoppers who may feel uncomfortable seeing anyone other than law enforcement with a weapon.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto traveled to Washington earlier this week to lobby U.S. senators to introduce gun-reform legislation. U.S. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) didn’t indicate whether he would introduce any legislation.

Peduto applauded Giant Eagle’s decision and thanked the company on Twitter.

According to USA Today, Giant Eagle has joined 16 other retailers and restaurant chains in asking customers not to open carry in their locations. Many of the announcements followed soon after a mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart where 22 people were killed.

However, none of these large companies have banned firearms outright in their locations. Legal experts say retailers and restaurants can, in fact, refuse service to customers carrying guns, as gun owners are not a protected class under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination against people based on religious, gender, race, national origin, and other protected groups. 

This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2019.

3 replies on “Giant Eagle is urging customers not to open carry firearms in its stores”

  1. HELL NO it’s my Federal Law Constitutional Second Amendment Right to Carry my Gun my way. I’m not putting my life in danger of someone shooting my ass or my family’s friends and other people. You need to be worried about the people that carry more than one and illegal weapons and hide them. I’m not shopping at your store I’m going to Shop N Save. Your stores protect no one there. YOU CAN SAY THANK YOU WHEN AN LAW ABIDING CITIZEN SAVES YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CUSTOMERS. YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY RIGHTS AWAY. YOUR EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS ARE SITTING DUCKS WIDE OPEN FOR TO BECOME VICTIMS OF A NUT TO SHOT EVERYONE. SINCE ALL YOU STUPID COMPANIES ARE ANNOUNCING THIS BAN OF LAW ABIDING CITIZEN THAT ARE NOT NUTS AND WOULD SAVE EVERYONE IF CAN. DEMOCRATS CRY YOU BEND TO SOCIALISTS. FREEDOM TO CARRY LEGALLY. WAKE UP GIANT EAGLE AND ALL COMPANIES LOSING BUSINESS. THERE ARE MORE GUN OWNERS THAN LOW INCOME FOOD STAMPS AND NOT MANY PEOPLE DON’T HAVE GUNS ANYMORE NOW A DAYS. LEGAL GUN OWNERS AND CARRY OPEN IF YOU WANT DON’T LET COMPANIES DICTATE YOUR RIGHT TO BARE ARMS AND CARRY OPEN IF WANT TOO. NO SOCIALISTS WILL WIN OVER GUN OWNERS AND OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHT.

  2. In 57 years, and in a few states, I have never seen anyone open carrying except the police. Or hunters going on a trip. Who the hell open carries. Personally I think you’d be the 1st one shot. Not to bright if you ask me.

  3. The Second Amendment does not guarantee that all people can carry any gun anywhere they want. Past Supreme Court decisions have put limits on that right. For example, in the Heller case of 2008, Justice Scalia wrote “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

    I’m glad that Giant Eagle is asking people who carry guns to stay away. They should go further and ban guns from their stores. They’re a private company. They have that right.

    Guns make us less safe, so the fewer non-professionals there are toting guns in public, the safer we all are.

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