quote:

Walmart says it will discontinue the sale of handgun ammunition and also publicly request that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in stores even where state laws allow it.

The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas and follows two other back-to-back shootings last month, one of them at a Walmart store.

The retail corporation said Tuesday it will stop selling short-barrel and handgun ammunition after it runs out of its current inventory. It will also discontinue handgun sales in Alaska, marking its complete exit from handguns and allowing it to focus on hunting rifles and related ammunition only.

“We know these decisions will inconvenience some of our customers, and we hope they will understand. As a company, we experienced two horrific events in one week, and we will never be the same. Our remaining assortment will be even more focused on the needs of hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. It will include long barrel deer rifles and shotguns, much of the ammunition they require, as well as hunting and sporting accessories and apparel,” Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon said in a memo posted on the company’s site.

McMillon also encouraged the “nation’s leaders to move forward and strengthen background checks and to remove weapons from those who have been determined to pose an imminent danger.”

A gun owner himself, McMillon said he’s sending letters to the White House and the Congressional leadership that “call for action on these common sense measures.”

Voicing concern about the spotlight fading on the recent mass shootings, McMillon called on Congress and administration to act.

“We want what’s best for our customers, our associates and our communities. In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again. The status quo is unacceptable.”

The National Rifle Association tweeted out their reaction to McMillon’s announcement Tuesday afternoon. “It’s shameful to see Walmart succumb to pressure of anti-gun elites. Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America’s fundamental freedoms.”

quote:

Walgreens announced Thursday it was asking customers to "no longer openly carry firearms" in its stores. Authorized law enforcement officials would be exempt from the request, the second-largest pharmacy chain, with 9,560 stores, said in a statement.

CVS and Wegmans released similar statements later Thursday.

"The sight of someone with a gun can be alarming, and we don’t want anyone to feel that way at Wegmans," the supermarket chain said in a statement. "For this reason, we prefer that customers not openly carry firearms into our stores."

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
Yes, they can ask. Can they enforce? Or is it just a request?

quote:

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he's "willing to take an arrow" and defy the National Rifle Association by pressing Texas to close one loophole in gun-purchaser background checks.

On Friday, Patrick said it's "common sense" to tighten background-check laws because in many instances, stranger-to-stranger sales now are exempt from the requirement that buyers be vetted through a federal database of people not eligible to purchase firearms.

Patrick wants to protect transfers among family members from triggering a check. He'd also continue to exempt friends, though he acknowledged that could be abused. Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, said he's willing to accede to the preferences of senators on whether to maintain that loophole — and if so, exactly how.

But he said Texas must strongly discourage selling guns to strangers without a background check.

"That gap of stranger to stranger we have to close, in my view," Patrick, a staunchly conservative Republican and avid gun-rights advocate, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.

"When I talk to gun owners, NRA members and voters, people don't understand why we allow strangers to sell guns to total strangers when they have no idea if the person they're selling the gun to could be a felon, could be someone who's getting a gun to go commit a crime or could be a potential mass shooter or someone who has serious mental issues."

"Look, I'm a solid NRA guy," he said, "but not expanding the background check to eliminate the stranger to stranger sale makes no sense to me and ... most folks."

The NRA responded soon after, calling Patrick's proposals "political gambits" that would "resurrect the same broken, Bloomberg-funded failures that were attempted under the Obama administration."

quote:

On Friday, he issued an emphatic warning to fellow Republicans: To survive and avert Democratic takeovers in Austin and Washington, they must act expeditiously on measures to reduce gun violence.

"Someone in the Republican Party has to take the lead on this," he said.