Unknown

By AWR Hawkins

Washington DC – -(Ammoland.com)- During a March 25 2015 appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman said the retail food chain will not comply with the demands of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, especially as those demands touch on changing store policy to disarm open-carry customers in states where openly carrying a gun in Kroger is legal. Schlotman made these comments after Squawk Box host Andrew Ross Sorkin said . . .

“In the fall there [were] these liberal groups who had organized to suggest that Kroger was allowing people to ‘open carry’ firearms in their supermarkets. What was that about and where do you guys stand on that?”

Scholtman responded:

That was a group called Moms Demand Action. They were 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.

Moms Demand Action launched their campaign against Kroger on August 18 2014. On that very day, Kroger subsidiary Fred Meyer announced they would not be changing their gun policy and the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Kroger released a statement days later, stating that they had no intention of changing their policy either; that they “trust [customers] to be responsible in [Kroger] stores.”

After failing to achieve a policy change at Kroger or Fred Meyer, Moms Demand Action targeted North Carolina-based Harris Teeter on November 20 2014. But Breitbart News reported that Harris Teeter quickly made it known that they would not be changing their gun policy either.

They released a statement in response to Moms Demand Action saying: “We have and will continue to adhere to the firearms and concealed handgun laws as outlined by the states in which we do business. We believe this issue is best handled by lawmakers, not retailers.”

By the way, I recently reported that Kroger’s profits rose “21 percent” after refusing to ban guns.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

49 COMMENTS

  1. FYI

    “By the way, on December 8 2015 I reported that Kroger’s profits rose “21 percent” after refusing to ban guns.”

    Pretty sure you meant 2014, Robert.

    • And the ‘moms’ who threatened to go elsewhere now shop at the local anti-gun oriented 7-Eleven where they must certainly feel…safer.

  4. Michigan guy here, (obviously), but I haven’t spent a single cent in a grocery store that wasn’t Kroger since this happened. I also have written the company, shared my extremely high grocery bill with them, and told them they would continue to get my money every week as long as they held out. And I don’t even advocate open carry.

    The wife will only let us buy organic this and that, so we spend a boatload at the grocery store. It’s always good to contact retailers and tell them something *positive*.

    • At least Kroger has a line of organic food, I think it’s called Simple Truth, that lessens the cost somewhat. I’ve always been a kroger shopper and am even more motivated to do so after their hard line against MDA

  5. Regardless of he date, (a typo I believe.)

    I think corporations are starting to see the light, (read dollar signs)

    There are more pro-second amendment folks than anti-gun folks. Laws are changing for the better, now if only other corporations emulate Kroger …

    Voting is the main method to get people on your side! Do it! Have you?

    • I frown on slacktivism, but I might be up for snapping an open carry photo (Dean Weingarten style) at Fry’s with a Thank You Kroger for #Gunsense” and making up a twitter account just to troll their hashtag.

  8. But how can you argue with mommies? They put a lot of time and effort into concocting the best human shield to keep the debate on gun rights off the Constitution.

    And GUNS! Blood in the freezer section and the cereal aisle. Sandy Hook! Gun lobby!

    • You need more exclamation points.

      OMG!!! Guns!!!

      Use the Martini rule…. Two is good, three is better, four is just over doing it.

  9. “We have and will continue to adhere to the firearms and concealed handgun laws as outlined by the states in which we do business. We believe this issue is best handled by lawmakers, not retailers.”

    Wow, what a concept! It’s what I’d call common sense policy.

    • I will this afternoon, as a matter of fact. Since their local stores here are branded King Soopers, I guess I’ll be Soopering. . .

  11. “By the way, I recently reported that Kroger’s profits rose “21 percent” after refusing to ban guns.”

    Likely because there are only, like 10 total, anti gun liberals with any money to spend. Where as the gun owners are more likely to have far more discretionary income.

    I demand from MDA that they stop sucking at parenting, and maybe raise some kids that don’t become people with violent tendencies.

    #StopViolenceThroughBetterParenting

  12. Fred Meyer has a reward card that can be linked to various groups for donation. I linked mine to the Oregon Firearms Education. Every year they divi up two million or so to these groups. Look into assigning yours in your area to a pro gun group if any.

  13. Can we add “Krogering” to the lexicon of toting jargon? And how would we define it, specifically?
    To go where no Mom has gone before?
    #BecauseKroger?
    #URWelcome-Shannon?

    • Wow, that brings back memories. Kroger itself used to use that term “Krogering”, meaning to shop at Kroger, in an advertising jingle.

      “Let’s…..go…..Kro…..ger……ing…..” is how it was sung. I don’t know about other parts of the country, but I don’t think I’ve heard that jingle here since at least the 1990s, maybe 1980s.

  14. I shop almost exclusively at Fry’s (Kroger) now, and have since they rebuked MDA. I’m glad I helped.

  15. Call me a Kroger shopper as well because they kept their business OUT of politics and friendly to our rights!

      • If not, that’s a step down the road. That would not diminish them standing up to MDA like they have been/continue to do.

        Rights were not lost in one step; they won’t come back in one step.

      • I frequently pick up produce at the Fry’s distribution center in Phoenix and deliver to Smith’s in Las Vegas. The DC is plainly signed at the gate “NO WEAPONS!” I’m pretty sure that corporate policy also prohibits or severely limits employees from carrying while on duty. While I don’t particularly like that policy I can understand it from a corporate perspective in our litigious society.

        I believe that the main point Kroger is trying to make is that as a retailer they have no business telling their customers that they cannot engage in an otherwise perfectly legal activity while in their stores. They are legally responsible for the actions of their employees, however.

  16. I couldn’t find a Kroger affiliate anywhere near me. Too bad as I would shop there…

  17. Have several Kroger’s in Virginia Beach, VA area. Have not really been in one. I think it’s time…

  18. I definitely wish there was a Kroger up here so I could give them all of my grocery business. At least I can give them a boost every year when I go down to GA. My friend makes sure to carry in the store and I make sure to buy plenty of food.

  19. I really wish Shannon Watts would focus her time and money on actually doing something that will impact the lives of children in a positive way – Education reforms, foster care reforms, prison reforms, whatever, that will have a notable positive impact in the lives of children.

    Why she is hyper focused on guns rights?

      • Exactly.

        Her branding image as “concerned Mom” makes it sometimes easy to forget she’s a professional PR shill doing a job. There exists the possibility that until being hired for this gig, she did not have a thought in her head on gun control one way or another.

        At least I don’t recall hearing about her “activism” until she was hired to be a PR activists.

        She’s paid to be a liar. And even at that, she’s not very good at it.

    • Can we discover where Shannon and the other Moms go grocery shopping and let that company know we won’t be darkening their doorways?

  21. I notice Kroger’s representative commented that they haven’t had any issues as a result of open carry customers.
    It would appear the only issue was caused by the Moms demonstrators
    Paul in Texas

  23. THIS blew up in BloomTURD’s face big time. Eat THAT crap sandwich, Shannon Twatts.

    Ray

  24. I just want my local Kroger,where I seem to go every day for something, to start selling ammo. That would be an event for the MOM’s to attend and while I carry concealed it would still be fun.

  25. Oh come on the CEO of kroger is just rubbing it in MDA face. There is no way there is a show called “Squawk Box” without it being named after Shannon Watts, especially on a NBC station. Way to go to her front porch and tell her to F off. Now if he will just go on Bloomberg TV and backhand Mikey and say “bad troll”

  26. Krogers owns many stores under different brands around the country.
    https://www.kroger.com/

    Ralphs grocery stores in San Diego County gets consistently good reviews on Yelp.

    I know where I will be buying my groceries next and will make it a point to tell the Store Manager thanks, and why.

    You rock, AWR. Love the point about voting with your wallet…looks like POTG far outnumber Bloombergs paid sockpuppets…

Comments are closed.