Gun Control Group to Deliver Petition to Buckhead Kroger Friday

Staff Report

Atlanta members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America will deliver petitions to the Atlanta Cherokee Plaza Kroger store on Friday, October 3rd calling for Kroger/Brand stores to stand with Moms and ensure the safety and security of its customers and employees. State laws allow people to openly carry loaded rifles in public with absolutely no training, permitting, or minimum age requirement. Combined with the fact there were 6.6 million gun transfers without a background check in the U.S. in 2012, this means that people in most states can legally carry loaded rifles in public without ever having passed a criminal background check. In the face of thousands of complaints from concerned customers, Kroger Family of Stores, the second largest retailer in the country and the nation’s largest supermarket retailer, has continued to allow shoppers to openly carry guns inside stores and on their properties.

“Thousands of families rely on Kroger as a safe place to shop for groceries, and we are joined by tens of thousands of Americans demanding to keep those customers safe,” said Georgia communications leader of Moms Demand Action – GA. “It is too easy for criminals and other dangerous people to get a gun in America without a background check, and that’s why I can’t in good conscience shop in a store that puts gun extremists ahead of the safety of my children. Kroger should prohibit the open carry of firearms immediately.”

Policymakers and Kroger employees have also called on Kroger to prohibit open carry of firearms in its grocery stores. After Moms launched their petition, a dedicated Kroger employee, Mary Mueller, launched a petition of Kroger employees asking the company to stand up for their employees’ safety by prohibiting open carry at its stores. “Kroger doesn’t allow guns to be openly carried in its corporate headquarters in Cincinnati. Why do they allow it in other Kroger-owned workplaces? All Kroger employees—whether executives, managers, cashiers, or customer service representatives like me—deserve a safe workplace,” she wrote.

On Tuesday, September 30 U.S. Senators Murphy, Blumenthal and Feinstein wrote to Kroger, point out “Kroger has a proud history as an innovator within the retail industry. Kroger changed the grocery business by establishing in-store bakeries and deciding to sell meats in the 1900s. […]The company has an opportunity to again be a leader. A change by Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket retailer, could have a similar effect by setting a new customer-friendly standard that other supermarkets follow.”