Everytown For Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action Applaud Albertsons Companies’ Decision to Prohibit Open Carry in Stores

Since Tuesday, Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Wegmans and Albertsons Companies Have All Announced Prohibitions on Open Carry in Stores

Polling Released Last Week Showed that Companies “Have More to Gain Than They Put at Risk” by Advocating for Gun Safety

NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown, today applauded Albertsons Companies’ announcement that it will prohibit open carry of firearms in its stores. Albertsons Companies, Inc. is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, operating stores including Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Safeway, Vons, Tom Thumb and more.

Moms Demand Action volunteers have been pressuring corporations to prohibit open carry in stores since 2013, when volunteers successfully convinced Starbucks to change its open carry policy. In 45 states, it’s legal to carry loaded firearms in public with no permit or safety training. Prohibiting open carry in stores makes employees and families safer.

“Albertsons Companies is the latest retailer to give its customers what they want: meaningful steps to help save American lives from gun violence,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We applaud Albertsons Companies for taking action on gun safety, and as Senators head back to Washington, we urge them to take a page from America’s CEOs and pass meaningful gun safety laws.”

“Today’s announcement from Albertsons Companies further proves what we know to be true — gun safety is good for business, good for politics, and most importantly, good for the country,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “I’m so proud of the advocacy of volunteers across the country who have relentlessly urged business leaders to stand on the right side of this issue, and I’m grateful to businesses like Albertsons Companies that have answered the call.” 

Polling released last week from Edelman Intelligence showed that a strong majority of Americans feel favorably towards businesses that support gun safety measures. The poll — taken before recent moves by these five companies to prohibit open carry in their stores — shows broad and bipartisan public support for a variety of actions by CEOs and companies, including supporting legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales, funding gun safety education and prohibiting open carry in their stores. Based on these findings, Edelman Intelligence advised that businesses “have more to gain than they put at risk” by advocating for gun violence prevention.

Other notable findings include: 

• Nearly half of Americans would be more likely to purchase from a company if its CEO has taken action to address gun violence and just 11 percent are less likely to purchase from that company; 
• The majority of Democrats, Republicans and gun owners would feel more favorable toward a company whose CEO advocated for legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales; and
• Consumers are three times more likely to respond positively than negatively to a CEO or company that takes action to address gun violence. 

During the past week week alone, Albertsons Companies, CVS, Wegmans, Walgreens, Walmart and Kroger have joined a growing and diverse list of corporations that have taken a stand on gun violence prevention, including retailers like Levi Strauss & Co., TOMS, DICK’S Sporting Goods, L.L. Bean and REI, financial services companies like Citibank, Amalgamated Bank, BlackRock and PayPal, and tech companies like Facebook and Salesforce, to name a few. A sample of corporate action on gun violence prevention is available here.