{"id":1314478,"date":"2019-09-10T16:27:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T22:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=987405"},"modified":"2019-09-12T08:53:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T14:53:34","slug":"in-garfield-county-some-greet-walmarts-open-carry-policy-with-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/in-garfield-county-some-greet-walmarts-open-carry-policy-with-doubt\/","title":{"rendered":"In Garfield County, some greet Walmart\u2019s open carry policy with doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Getty Images<\/strong>
Detective with gun on her belt<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

New policies restricting open carry of firearms at several large chain stores in the country won\u2019t help much in preventing shooting violence, according to Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not going to fix the problem that there are crazy people out there doing violent things. That\u2019s really the sad part of this; it\u2019s a Band-Aid thing,\u201d Vallario said.<\/p>\n

After a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced Sept. 3 that it is \u201crespectfully requesting that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores.\u201d Kroger made a similar request of customers not to shop with openly carried guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again,\u201d McMillon said in his letter to Walmart employees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Walmart said it is developing ways to train management to respond to those who open carry, but it\u2019s unclear what that will look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the opportunity for someone to misinterpret a situation, even in open carry states, could lead to tragic results,\u201d McMillon said. All law-abiding customers will be treated with respect, and store employees \u201cwill have a very non-confrontational approach,\u201d McMillon said.<\/p>\n

Representatives for Walmart and Kroger did not provide additional comment to the Post Independent.<\/p>\n

Local law enforcement officials recognized the store\u2019s authority to make the request, but noted that open carrying has not been an issue in Garfield County.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not heard, through the sheriff\u2019s office or anything, of this being a problem anywhere at the stores in our county. If it is, it\u2019s being dealt with at (the store) level,\u201d Vallario said.<\/p>\n

Rifle Police Chief Tommy Klein said a manager at the Rifle Walmart called him the morning the policy was announced to let him know what they were doing. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never had an issue with open carry, that I\u2019m aware of, at either store,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

Klein declined to say whether the policy would increase public safety, but noted that open carry is not uncommon in Rifle.<\/p>\n

Under Colorado law, people are allowed to carry a concealed weapon in most places if they have a permit. Walmart is not changing its position on concealed weapons, and Kroger has not addressed concealed weapons.<\/p>\n

Walmart and Kroger\u2019s guidance against open carry is not a ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said they\u2019re asking customers not to open carry. They did not say they\u2019re prohibiting it,\u201d said Ed Wilks, a Second Amendment advocate and owner of the Tradesman gun store in Rifle.<\/p>\n

As private entities, stores can refuse business to anyone, so long as the refusal is not on the basis of sex, religion or race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalmart is a private company, they may do whatever they want,\u201d Wilks said.<\/p>\n

Wilks said he believes Walmart is concerned about people carrying weapons into stores to make a political statement, as many gun rights advocates<\/a> say they\u2019ve done since the announcement.<\/p>\n

Such political statements are counterproductive to Second Amendment causes, Wilks said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the record, if I\u2019m in Walmart with my children and I see a guy open carry an M4 (carbine, the primary infantry weapon for some branches of the U.S. Armed Forces) with armor plate, I too am going to leave my cart, take my children and walk out,\u201d Wilks added.<\/p>\n

As a Second Amendment advocate, Wilks points to cases where violent shooters or other offenders are stopped by someone with a concealed weapon.<\/p>\n

And he noted some hypocrisy in Walmart\u2019s focus on guns, when the store sells alcohol, which is responsible for far more deaths each year than gun violence.<\/p>\n

John Krousouloudis, chair of the Garfield County Democrats, lauded the Walmart and Kroger\u2019s statements and said he thought the intentions were good.<\/p>\n

Krousouloudis made a distinction between open carry and concealed carry, People who open carry sometimes do not have the same level of training as those with concealed permits, Krousouloudis said, and those aren\u2019t the kinds of people one wants toting a firearm in public.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who open carry are not necessarily trained and screened. So, I\u2019m not comfortable with those people carrying,\u201d Krousouloudis said.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getty ImagesDetective with gun on her belt New policies restricting open carry of firearms at several large chain stores in the country won\u2019t help much in preventing shooting violence, according to Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to fix the problem that there are crazy people out there doing violent things. That\u2019s really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 06:44:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1314534,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314478\/revisions\/1314534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}