Nearly 130K sign petition urging Walmart CEO to end gun sales
Weeks after two Walmart stores became the scenes of deadly shootings, employees and customers continued to urge the retailer to overhaul its gun policies.
On Tuesday, Walmart category specialist Thomas Marshall sent a petition to CEO Doug McMillon calling on the retailer to stop all sales of firearms and ammunition, ban the public from carrying firearms into stores and end all donations to NRA-backed politicians. The petition had grown by Wednesday to more than 129,160 signatures, signaling sustained pressure on one of the nation’s largest retailers of firearms and ammunition.
“Customers no longer feel as safe as they once did in our stores,” Marshall wrote in a note to McMillon. “We must do more. We have the power to do more.”
McMillon responded to Marshall’s note, Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said, to reiterate that the company is listening to a range of perspectives and considering how it might respond. The retailer also is “encouraging others” to consider what actions they could take on gun issues, though Hargrove wouldn’t specify whom he meant.
Hargrove emphasized that safety was Walmart’s priority and that it would take time to “think through this issue.” Since the shootings, Walmart has not instituted any policy changes related to firearms or security.
“In the national conversation around gun safety, we’re encouraged that broad support is emerging to strengthen background checks and to remove weapons from those who have been determined to pose an imminent danger,” McMillon said after Walmart released its earnings this month. “We must also do more to understand the root causes that lead to this type of violent behavior.”
Despite its growing number of signatures, the petition also drew consternation. Comments posted to the Change.org Web page included calls to fire any employee who participated in a walkout, and arguments that Walmart’s policies alone are not enough to end the shootings.
Marshall had helped organize a walkout two weeks ago of roughly 40 whitecollar Walmart employees in San Bruno, California. Workers at Walmart’s ecommerce offices in Portland, Oregon, and New York also pressed the company to stop selling firearms and end donations to politicians who receive funding from the National Rifle Association.
This month, a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Days before, two Walmart workers were killed at a store in Southaven, Mississippi. A former staffer was charged in that shooting.
Walmart sells guns in roughly half of its 4,750 U.S. stores. The company stopped selling handguns in 1993 and phased out assault-style rifles in 2015. Last year, after 17 students and teachers were killed in a school shooting in Parkland, Walmart raised the minimum age for gun purchases from 18 to 21.