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Aldi, Meijer joins list of retailers asking customers not to openly carry guns into stores

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WCMH/AP) — Aldi and Meijer have both joined the list of retailers asking customers not to openly bring guns into their stores.  

In a statement released on Twitter, Meijer states that its customers’ and team members’ safety is its top priority.  

 “We’ve made this decision because open carry can create an environment that makes our customers and team members feel unsafe,” the tweet reads.

Aldi also released a statement on Twitter that reads: 

“At ALDI, the safety of our employees, customers and the community is our highest priority. Alongside many other businesses, we are asking that our customers refrain from openly displaying firearms in any of our stores, except for authorized law enforcement personnel.” 

The announcements join other retailers like Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, and CVS who all released statements asking customers to no longer bring guns into their establishments.  

Walmart also said it would stop selling handgun and short-barrel rifle ammunition in the aftermath of a string of mass shootings, including one last month inside an El Paso, Texas store that killed 22 customers — the deadliest in the company’s history. 

Starbucks, Wendy’s and Target have already asked customers not to openly carry guns in stores unless they’re law enforcement officers. But the retailers have stopped short of introducing an outright ban because they say they don’t want to put employees in confrontational situations. Ken Perkins, president of research firm RetailMetrics, says retailers can’t have their workers, who get paid $15 an hour, trying to pry a gun away from an armed shopper. 

Walmart and other big national chains cater to all kinds of customers with different views on guns but store policies have recently been trending toward more restrictions.