Kroger is reshaping its business around gun reform in light of the recent deadly shootings in El Paso and Southaven, Mississippi. These shootings claimed the lives of 24 people and wounded dozens.
What We Know:
- The announcement came hours after Walmart’s decision to no longer carry firearms. While those in Bentonville, Arkansas based retailer took it a step further by saying they refuse to sell ammunition for military-style guns and decided to get out of the gun business.
- With the recent store shootings, the gun-control advocacy groups and politicians have been under pressure to implicate these laws.
- Jessica Adelman, the Vice President of Corporate Affairs, said in a statement to CNBC on Tuesday that “Kroger is respectfully asking that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores, other than authorized law enforcement officers.”
- The reason behind the change is to encourage elected officials to enforce stricter gun laws that will perform background checks and remove guns from those who pose a threat to society.
- Several places like Florida, California, Illinois, and the District bar people from openly carrying guns in public, while the rest of the country allows some form of carrying with standards. The standards include what type of firearm is permitted to be carried and whether a license is needed. This can vary from state to state. There are open-carry laws in specific locations such as schools and public transportation.
- Walmart sells guns in about half of its 4,750 stores but stopped selling military-style rifles after mass shootings in 2015.
- In the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018 that killed 17 people, Kroger announced that they would stop selling guns to those who are under the age of 21. They decided to stop selling ammunition and firearms all together at the company’s Fred Meyer grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest.
As mass shootings continue to rise in the U.S., it is evident people are getting tired of living in fear. This is because they don’t know when and where the next shooting will occur. Walmart and Kroger taking a stand is proof enough that the people are tired of not being heard by law officials.
