Posted on 01/04/2002 7:57:29 AM PST by oldfart
Since there has been some discussion here and elsewhere regarding Wal Mart's corporate policy regarding concealed weapons, I decided to go to the source. I (and you can do it too) dialed 1-800-WAL MART and waded through the various levels of computer generated voice mail before I finally got to speak to (I think) a real human.
I asked him about company policy regarding the carry of legally permitted concealed guns on Wal Mart property. He went of-line for a few moments, then returned and told me that, so long as the gun was kept concealed and the person carrying it had a permit to do so, Wal Mart would treat that customer just like any other customer.
I then asked what would happen if a customer had to use such a gun to protect him/herself or another customer. He said that since those occasions are so rare, each would have to be looked at with respect to the conditions at the time.
All in all, it does not appear that Wal Mart has a particularly hostile attitude toward CCW holders.
On the other hand, the manager of our local store had a different story. When I quizzed him about company policy, he told me that weapons were not allowed in the store or parking lot. He went out of his way to point out that when they sold a gun to a customer the clerk had to hand-carry it through the check-out line, out to the parking lot and make certain it was securely locked in the trunk of his/her car.
It sounds to me as if corporate policy hasn't quite made it down to local levels yet.
I suspect that he is correct in his answer but confused as to what the question actually was. Im confident that if we were to actually go to the manuals that contain the store policy, we would find something along the lines of...
"Rule 14: Employees may not carry firearms, other than to facilitate a purchase by a Wal-Mart customer, nor is any employee allowed to store firearms in their vehicle while on Wal-Mart premisis. Failure to comply will result in immediate termination".
Most of the companies Ive worked for have had a similar line somewhere in the employee handbook.
Sounds like a winning policy.
This must be the local manager, when I bought a rifle a few months ago I was escorted to the door by a manager. They didn't follow me to my car.
At first I was amused by the mental image of a twelve guage revolver, loaded with buckshot, then irritated at the infringement on my privacy. I told her none of her business. She gave me a look, and I think she punched somthing on her register, but she didn't deny me my buckshot.
Anyone else seeing this at Wal-Mart? Does anyone know what this policy is supposed to be for?
Some of the "No carry" employers I have worked for were I remember such a reference were the state, a utility, the nations largest producer of junk mail (no, I cant get you off "the list"), an electronic tax filing company, a PCS provider and one that sold and supported SEB's.
Here in Alaska, we have a CCW law (thank you, Jeannette James of North Pole! One of the best legislators this State ever had).
We also have a THEORETICAL right to open carry in most of the State- but better not try this in town. I recall a homesteader who went into a Safeway store in Fairbanks a few years ago, with his pistol on his hip. He was tackled by two Fairbanks police officers and placed under arrest- although no laws had been broken and he had threatened no-one.
But he made some urban resident (probably a recent arrival from the lower 48) nervous.
I don't know the laws in other States, but here in NC if a store has a 'no concealed carry' sign in the window, you are in violation of the CC permit to carry in the store.
The right idea. I have carried past many a greeter at the local Wally World. Even carrying into a business with a "NO CONCEALED WEAPONS ALLOWED" sign should not bring an arrest, just be sure that if store personal ask, you leave immediately without raising a stink. On the other hand, if you are going into a business where the state bars carrying, then don't carry there.
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