Giant Eagle is the latest retailer requesting customers refrain from openly carrying guns on store property.
On Friday, the Pittsburgh-based grocery store released a statement reading, “We respect the rights of each individual who chooses to shop with us, and also recognize the heightened concern customers may feel when they encounter anyone other than law enforcement personnel visibly carrying a weapon.
“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.
“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.”
The decision comes after several retailers, including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Target and grocery chain Wegmans Food Market, requested customers do not openly carry a gun unless they are a police officer.
Walmart officials also stopped the sale of handgun ammunition in its stores.
That announcement came after a mass shooting in Odessa, Texas, left seven people dead last month and an August shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 after a gunman entered the building using an AK-style rifle.
