Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
CINCINNATI -- A national gun control advocacy group recently launched a provocative ad campaign aimed at forcing Kroger to change its corporate policies.
The group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America said it wants Kroger to stop allowing people to openly carry weapons in all of its many grocery stores and chains.
The group is backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It claims more than 100,000 people have signed its petition already.
The advocates said Kroger has a responsibility to act to protect the public at its stores when the law cannot intervene.
For its part, Kroger seems to have rebuffed the effort. Kroger spokesman Keith Daily was quoted in the Huffington Post saying, "We know that our customers are passionate on both sides of this issue and we trust them to be responsible in our stores."
Daily directed WCPO to a company statement that reads:
"The safety of our customers and associates is one of our most important company values. Millions of customers are present in our busy grocery stores every day and we don't want to put our associates in a position of having to confront a customer who is legally carrying a gun. That is why our long-standing policy on this issue is to follow state and local laws and to ask customers to be respectful of others while shopping. We know that our customers are passionate on both sides of this issue and we trust them to be responsible in our stores."
The #GroceriesNotGuns campaign includes a large push on social media, as well as ads in newspapers and billboards across the country. (Click on the slideshow above to see all the ads)
The group told the Huffington Post that it plans to put one of the provocative ads on a billboard in Cincinnati -- Kroger's corporate headquarters.
The group announced the campaign two weeks ago. It has previously targeted stores and restaurants such as Chipotle, Target, Sonic and Starbucks.
According to the group's website, it is asking families to boycott Kroger stores and post photos of shopping trips at stores that do not allow for open carry.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/moms-open-fire-on-kroger-via-social-media-over-open-carry-issue