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If you’ve got a gun, Publix Supermarkets prefers you keep that knowledge to yourself. At least when you’re in one of its stores.
The Lakeland-based retailer with stores in seven states released a brief statement Tuesday asking customers to not openly carry firearms in its sores.
“Publix respectfully requests that only law enforcement officials openly carry firearms in our stores,” spokesman Brian West wrote in an email to the Tampa Bay Times.
and also there's this:What are @Publix, @FoodLion and @HyVee waiting for?
Food Lion: 800-210-9569https://t.co/ytjmNIRkMS
Hy-Vee: 800-772-4098https://t.co/kJ1HyvtjG8
Publix: 800-242-1227https://t.co/cpyIBa49hi pic.twitter.com/AdNy5bzHfm
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) September 10, 2019
“Publix is the 38th store brand in the last week to reverse its open carry policy after pressure from @MomsDemand volunteers,” Shannon Watts, a member of Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety, wrote on Twitter. “Corporate leaders are standing up to the gun lobby.”
Moms Demand and Everytown are grassroots organizations focused on gun control legislation.
In May, Vernon Messier was shot in the leg when his wife dropped her purse and a gun she was carrying in her purse discharged while the couple stood in line at a Land O’ Lakes Publix. A few days later, a woman was injured when an off-duty police officer’s gun accidentally discharged at a Miami-area Publix.
Last year, survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting staged a “die-in” at Publix to protest its support of the National Rifle Association and NRA-baked candidates. The retailer announced it would stop donating to the NRA in response to the controversy, but records show the donations resumed earlier this year.
Representatives from Publix did not respond to a request for comment on its concealed carry policy.
