Protesters Demand Chicago Grocer Bar Concealed Permit Holders From Carrying Guns For Self-Defense

On August 25 protesters from “Safer Communities” and the “Stop Concealed Carry Coalition” planned to protest the opening of Mariano’s Fresh Market in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook because both gun control groups want the grocer to ban concealed carry by persons with permits to carry concealed.

Without pausing to consider the fact that concealed carry permit holders are, by licensing requirement, law-abiding citizens, protest organizer Lee Goodman said it is “well-known” that “the more guns there are in public, the more people who will get shot.” But Goodman did not indicate where any substantiation for this “well-known” claim exists.

Instead, Goodman said Mariano’s bans concealed carry within the city of Chicago–but not in the suburbs–and gun controllers “don’t think that’s fair and [they] don’t think that’s safe.”

According to CBS Chicago, Mariano’s parent company, Roundy’s, educated Goodman on their gun policy by explaining that concealed carry is banned in stores in the city of Chicago via a local gun ordinance that bars concealed carry anywhere alcohol is served. So the limits on concealed carry in the city are mandated by city officials.

Outside the city, Roundy’s says it continues to comply with state laws and local ordinances and that means persons with concealed carry permits are allowed to carry guns for self-defense. They added: “We respect that there are strong feelings on both sides of this issue and believe that our customers can be respectful to one another when shopping at our stores.”

This is similar to the response Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America got after they launched an August 2014 campaign to try to force Kroger to ban law-abiding citizens from openly carry guns in their stores for self-defense.

Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman announced that Kroger was rejecting the demands of Moms Demand and explained why:

 [Moms Demand Action was] opposed to the fact that our policy is to adhere to the local gun laws. If the local gun laws are to allow open carry, we’ll certainly allow customers to do that based on what the local laws are. We don’t believe it’s up to us to legislate what the local gun control laws should be. It’s up to the local legislators to decide to do that.

So we follow local laws [and] we ask our customers to be respectful to the other people they are shopping with. And we really haven’t had any issues inside of our stores as a result of that.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.