Albertsons asks customers not to carry guns in stores openly

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Albertsons Cos. has asked customers not to openly carry guns into its stores.

The Boise grocery company joins a growing roster of national retailers making such requests in response to the continuing scourge of mass shootings. Albertsons’ two biggest grocery competitors, Walmart and Kroger Co., made similar requests last Tuesday, Sept. 3. Kroger owns the Fred Meyer and Smith’s chains.

“We see our grocery stores as a hub in local communities & we’re proud to serve our neighbors,” Albertsons wrote in a tweet Saturday on its corporate account. “We want our stores to feel safe & welcoming for all, so we respectfully ask customers to not openly carry firearms in our stores unless they are authorized law enforcement officers.”

We see our grocery stores as a hub in local communities & we're proud to serve our neighbors. We want our stores to feel safe & welcoming for all, so we respectfully ask customers to not openly carry firearms in our stores unless they are authorized law enforcement officers.

— Albertsons Companies (@AlbertsonsCos) September 7, 2019

The Walgreens and CVS drug-store chains also made no-open-carry requests last week.

Albertsons stores operate under more than 20 banners around the nation: Albertsons, Albertsons Market, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Lucky, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs, Sav-On, Acme, Shaw’s, Star Market, United Supermarkets, United Express, Market Street, Amigos, Haggen, Andronico’s Community Markets and Pak ‘n Save Foods.

Mass shootings have killed hundreds of Americans in the past five years — most recently on Aug. 31, when a shooter in Odessa, Texas, killed eight people.