Walgreens has joined a growing list of retailers asking customers to leave their guns at home.
Retail giant Walmart announced Tuesday it would ask customer to not openly carry weapons in its stores. In addition, the company said it will stop selling handgun ammunition.
The announcement came days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas, and two back-to-back shootings last month, one of them at a Walmart store.
Kroger said it, too, will ask customers to not carry weapons while shopping in its stores.
Only California, Florida, Illinois and Washington, D.C., generally bar people from openly carrying guns in public, according to the Washington Post.
Deerfield-based Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, issued a one-sentence statement Thursday: ”We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials.”
CVS, another leading drugstore chain, announced an update to its firearms policy Thursday, too.
“We support the efforts of individuals and groups working to prevent gun violence, and continually review our policies and procedures to ensure our stores remain a safe environment,” CVS said in a tweet.
CVS Health Updates Firearms in Stores Policy pic.twitter.com/0ODx6ewJNX
— CVS Health (@CVSHealth) September 5, 2019
The National Rifle Association criticized Walmart’s changes.
”The strongest defense of freedom has always been our free-market economy. It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites,” the NRA said.
“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.”
