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It looks like the Kroger grocery store chain is getting a little annoyed at all the bad press Moms Demand Action is attempting to throw their way. A gaggle of MDAers were protesting outside a Kroger store in Lansing, Michigan when the store finally had enough of their presence and made a demand of their own: get the hell off of our property. Immediately . . .

From the lansingjournal.com:

Kroger’s stance won’t stop Moms Demand Action’s ongoing protests at Kroger stores, however, said Linda Brundage, who heads the group’s mid-Michigan chapter. Brundage led a group of about 12 women at this morning’s protest.

The group was initially asked to leave the parking lot at 921 W. Holmes St., but was then invited inside to speak with store management….

Chris Albi, Kroger’s vice president of merchandising for Michigan, said the company’s Cincinnati headquarters was aware of today’s protest, but isn’t expected to change its policy.

“Our policy is consistent with what it’s been all along, that we follow the state’s regulations and we don’t have a specific policy for Kroger at all,” Albi said.

There are two things to note here.

First, the pathetic turnout that Moms Demand Action generated. Any time a pro-gun group organizes a rally or a meetup, a turnout of only 12 people would be and abject failure. That never happens, though, because gun rights people are much more motivated than are the anti-rights type. And it shows just about every time they try to get a group together.

Second, Moms Demand Action aren’t exactly besties with Kroger. The supermarket chain doesn’t appear to want to make nice with the Moms, and seems instead to be determined to weather the tempest in a teapot that the MDA folks are trying to gin up. If previous campaigns are any indication, MDA will spend all their sugar daddy Bloomberg’s money on an ad buy that will ultimately go nowhere.

It goes to show once again that Moms Demand Action can demand all they want, but they have very little actual support and struggle to accomplish anything at all.

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99 COMMENTS

    • Just buy and encourage your friends to buy. When they see that their bottom line isn’t going suffering, the Kroger folks will–well, I’ll say it–stick to their guns and let the “Moms” protests wither away.

      • Now just write them polite letters and keep shopping there. NO, do not have any open carry rallies and “Kroger appreciation days,” like the ones that caused Starbucks and the Mexican restaurant chain to change their policies.

        • Amen just conduct all business as usual the pro-carry this type of victory should be normal we really haven’t lost too many battles for our 2nd amendment rights. Now let’s not screw it up by celebrating like an idiot….just keep shopping as usual with Kroger’s and quietly spread the word among our circle so they will shop there as well….win with dignity and class show the anit-gunners what class is like

      • No, we should hold open carry rallies in their stores. Use aisle 6 for photo ops. Linger all day after making a $2 purchase. Then we can spike the ball and keep doing it. In no time we can turn Kroger into Starbucks and hand MDA another win.

        ****Just go about your business and leave Kroger as it was.****

        • I’m the mother of four daughters and all of them know how to shoot firearms. They are able to protect themselves if they need to do so. Further restrictions on the ownership of firearms is not necessary and only gives more advantage to the criminal element who obtain their weapons illegally anyway. I will never give up my firearms and neither will my daughters. We shop at Kroger-owned stores and will continue to do so.

    • In fact, I stopped at a King Soopers (Kroger division) less than an hour ago on the way back from picking up a new toy.

    • Personally, I think a better approach would be to send lots of communications (letters, phone calls, emails, etc.) from lots of different people supporting Kroger in their defense against MDA. Staging pro-gun rally’s at Kroger is probably going to get too much negative press by freaking people out. Just look what happened with Texas open carry. What we should be going for is showing that gun owners and carriers are normal people and staging rallies/mass purchases at Kroger stores is well outside the norm. The most that I will do is talk directly with the manager of a store to express my support for them, but I won’t do that as a part of a large group as I don’t want to appear intimidating.

      • “Staging pro-gun rally’s at Kroger is probably going to get too much negative press by freaking people out. “

        Yeah, except he said “purchase rallies,” is in, “go buy stuff at Kroger’s.”

        And by the way…you do know a lot of the stuff from TX was misreported, right? As in, the “freaking out” was exaggerated (or outright made-up).

        • True, but how can Kroger know that it’s pro-gun people supporting them if it isn’t made known?

          As for the TX reporting: that’s exactly my point. It was misreported, misrepresented, and lied about. If we do the same thing elsewhere, do we really expect the reaction to be different?

          I want to be clear: I do want to support Kroger’s efforts against MDA, I just think we need to carefully craft it so it gives the desired effect.

        • For one of the points made above…it doesn’t matter if they know who.

          The point is that if telling MDA to get lost and stop bothering them their property does not hurt their profits, they won’t see down side to it. And, with this method, we don’t put them into the middle of a political fight which a lot of folks constantly say these businesses don’t want.

          Just make sure Kroger does not feel a negative effect form going against MDA, and they will stand as the example to other businesses: “MDA does not rule the shopping habits of Kroger customers.”

      • I was going to say that!

        $2 bills are used so rarely in normal commerce, that the occasional one (two?) gets a lot of attention. Now imagine that every Kroger’s starts seeing several dozen $2 bills every day. They will notice. And we’re not disrupting their business this way.

      • This is the smartest thing I’ve ever seen on this website.

        Instead of sticking your gun on the outside of your clothing and making a big deal about things in a way that you think is beneficial but is actually upsetting people on the fence, encourage your gun buddies to use $2 bills in honor of the second amendment.

        The more of those that show up, the more obvious it is that 2nd Amendment supporters are on your business’ side.

        • Not to discourage the idea, but my recollection from working retail a number of years ago was the 2$ bills can be a bit annoying, simply because a standard cash register drawer doesn’t have a slot for them, so you have to put them under the drawer. No big deal, just a bit more trouble. That does get them noticed even more, though.

      • It’s been years since I seen a two dollar bill. I don’t know if I can even get one from the bank, let alone mine.

    • Have you ever dated a whacko?

      Aspects of the relationship are… very nice.

      The rest…. Not so much.

      Best left for the young guys, or those who can afford ’em.

  4. Perhaps it’s time for a Kroger muckey muck to write an open letter asking the Muthas to please leave their signs at home.

    If the Muthas reply that that that letter means nothing and they will continue to protest, then point out that this is EXACTLY what they elicited from Starbucks, Chipotle, et. al., and that therefore those must be worthless too. If on the other hand they see the trap, they’ll have to acknowledge the letter as meaning something and stay the f*** away.

  6. OK, I’ll say something else, after lookin’ at that picture. Are you seriously going to tell me that that bunch of gray-haired old ladies are “moms” with minor children that need protecting? Just another example of the fact that what we’re really dealing with here is a media-created “celebrity” and a cadre of professional rabble-rousers leading a gaggle of empty-nesters with too much time on their hands.

      • Bussed in from the nearby home. They’ll be back there in time for their afternoon snack and a nap. They made their signs in Art Class the day before the march. See the macaroni?

        • @ ready-fire-aim: Hell, son, I AM that age already–stop by Chick Fil A almost every morning for a free “senior coffee” to go with my butter- or chicken-biscuit

  7. I think 12 is actually a record turnout for them. And they didn’t even bring along any sleeping children to inflate the number!

    • Well, truth is always stranger than fiction. There is/was an antiwar antinukes group called “Raging Grannies” that look like the `senile delinquents’ in the Monty Python sketch. These biddies go around protesting at nuclear missile sites & (former) SAC bases, calling for unilateral disarmament. They screech Woody Guthrie protest songs and are generally obnoxious; no kid would want one of them for his grandmother.

      Anyway, I’m off to Kroger’s today, with lunch at Chick Fil-A. And Hobby Lobby, too.

  9. We have a Kroger (Fry’s) store just north of us in Sahuarita, AZ. Great store and nice people to deal with. So far, I haven’t heard of any Momsers’ activities in this area, but I’ll stay on alert.

  10. If we can help prevent Kroger from folding to MDA, I’d be happy to see them waste their money on ineffective advertising 😉

  11. Make like a tree and get the F out! Thank you Kroger. That store is right down the street from me. Not a great neighborhood, if you know what I mean.

      • Precisely the one you most ought to carry in.

        There’s a Walmart here nicknamed the Mos Eisely Walmart, for similar reasons.

  13. Look at all the blue haired Victim mindset biddies in the photo.

    None of them would protect themselves or their loved ones, would know how to, or could articulate it under Michigan state’s use of force/lethal force law.

    They are so unbelievably pathetic.

    • Amok!, don’t underestimate a Grandma who loves her grand-kids.

      At that point in their lives, they’re really not inclined to put up with a lot of bullshit.

      My granny was very much a POTG.

  16. An observation related to the last post that was made on PANERA:

    Kroger asked people who were exercising their free speech to leave the premises.

    • Apples and oranges, dude, sorry.

      Panera did not, so far as we know, ask a single person carrying a firearm to leave their private property. What they did was request, in a press release, that people don’t carry in the future. Their request is completely hollow; they have no standing whatsoever to ask people not to carry.

      The First Amendment has nothing to do with asking someone to leave. Again…these rights are orthogonal. The First Amendment even starts with “Congress shall pass no law …” so how, exactly, does that apply to a private property owner to specifically ask a person to leave their property?

      To equate Panera with this situation, there would have to be a gun owner, or group of gun owners, on Panera property being asked to leave. This is not what happened.

      This stuff seems so basic, yet….

      • I don’t disagree with you; I was making an observation to encourage discussion. And as you said in the Panera thread, the devil’s in the details… it’s not so basic. There was a lengthy discussion within the Panera thread on precisely this: free speech rights on someone else’s private property.

        Lighten up!

        • Gotcha on the “inspire discussion” angle.

          As one that “in the trenches” in the Panera thread (oy, was I ever, got called “ignorant” quite a few times and that’s always fun), I thought my reply here was pretty “light.” HAHA. 😉

    • Free speech as it pertains to the right to exercise it doesn’t apply to this case. No one is saying they cannot say what they want. Kroger is merely telling them to exercise their rights someplace other than private property.

  17. that’s wonderful news. i don’t even need Kroger to come out as Pro gun rights. they have a policy to follow state regs. they’re standing by it. that it benefits our cause is a most fortunate side effect. big difference between pro and anti gun storefront demonstrations. i rarely, if ever, hear of our side disrupting everday business to make our case.
    You have a problem with my gun in your store, then you have a problem with my money in your store.

  18. I have to travel a long distance to a Kroger from where I now live, but this weekend, my wife and I are making at trip there and take in some other events and areas near there while we are at it. Going to purchase various things and making a point to tell the management why we are there, why we traveled such a long distance to support them, etc.

    If the Kroger management up in Michigan can tell the gaggle of geese, I mean NAGS, I mean MDAs, to fly away, then I am sure those a little more down South will soon be doing the same thing.

  19. Meddling Dames of America! Wish Krogers had a store nearby. Over 400 miles to the nearest. Maybe they do mail order?

  20. “about 12” Huh? How hard is it to estimate a crowd of a dozen hens? Is it that they’d have to take their shoes off to count that high? I’d have thought that Birkenstocks don’t present that challenge.

  22. Need to pass this along on your Fakebook page, and link elsewhere on your fav gunnie sites,
    to jump up the Google Search views, and Alexa rankings…

    hey, its a slow Friday newscycle-
    slip it past all the sleeping progtards,
    so it hits DRUDGE…MONDAY AM!:

    KROGERS KICKS MDA OUT!!!

    KROGERS SAYS NO TO BLOOMBERG!!!

    RICH ELITIST NANNY SOCKPUPPETS TOLD TO GO HOME!!!

  23. “The group was initially asked to leave the parking lot at 921 W. Holmes St., but was then invited inside to speak with store management.”

    So, were they actually compelled to leave then or not?

    • Get that bunch off the street and inside before someone is injured! Put them in the Break Room! Send the Veg Manager in to entertain them for a while. The bus will be here soon.

  24. I had to see if there was anything around me that was Kroger owned, and behold, Fred Meyer in Washington State is Kroger owned and there is one close to me at Sprague and Sullivan, or 3.9 miles away in Spokane Valley. They just got more business from me.

    As for the picture for this article, good god. Look at those old hens out there doing a lot of nothing. I would have told them to kick rocks also.

    • The Fred Meyers in my town actually keeps a pretty well-stocked gun counter. Last time I passed by, they even had a few Windham Weaponry AR15s.

  25. Lansing, MI is next door to East Lansing, the home of Michigan State University. As college campuses are the most concentrated piles of numb, liberal minds in the Midwest, it’s all the more pathetic that they can’t get more than a dozen annoying people together in one place.

  26. Whoa!!!!!! All 12 of them.
    Hold me back.
    That looks like the largest bunch they have had in 1 place in awhile.
    I believe they are just being a bunch of PsIA at this point and cant get any press other then here at this point.
    I know Id just walk on by and pay them no mind if it were my local store.

  27. I mean, those ladies know that people can carry GUNS in that parking lot, right? Seems to me like they’d be better off huddling in a Panera, feeling the warmth or something.

  28. It’s like a flashback to yesteryear for a lot of these old crones..

    “Hey Edna, they’re kicking us out again! I wonder if they’ll use tear gas! Makes me want to go find my old Birkenstocks and tie-dye from the SDS days.”

    “Right on, Michelle!”

  32. Hey I found some Kroger affiliates south of Chicago. Ralph’s foods. Do they share any corporate ideals? I wonder in Cook County,Illinois…

  34. This anti-firearms farce geared up for the Battle for Seattle, but ended up the Glancing in Lansing. Oooohh, that’s gotta sting!

  35. You can write to Kroger to thank them at:

    The Kroger Co.
    1014 Vine Street
    Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-1100

    Or call at: 1-800-576-4377

  37. Did you guys know that Kroger owns fred Meyer (a nw dept/groc/sporting goods/hardware store? And Fred Meyer started selling guns at Fred Meyer in 2012 (I purchased a Henry lever .22lr for my son there last year).

    I can’t imagine they want to alienate a customer base they just started building.

  38. Make sure you stop by your local Kroger this weekend and thank them for not taking a stand on guns either way. The fact that they are content with just following local law is a win for us. Take a minute and let them know you appreciate them staying out of the gun prohibition craze.

    • Excellent! My point is just to continue–or start–shopping there. As long as they are feeling no financial pain, they will; see no reason to change their policies. But if you do want to encourage them, that’s the way: “thanks for staying out of the fight, regulating guns is the politicians’ job…”

  39. In the military they frown on close groups like that. A single grenade would take them all out! Just saying….

  40. This has gone on long enough. It’s time for Kroger’s to get a restraining order against MDA, or maybe a lawsuit for harassment would get MDA’s attention.

  43. I have learned, depending on which source I look at, alternately that King Soopers and/or Safeway are Kroger subsidiaries.

    It appears on further checking that answers.com has it wrong, and Kroger does not own Safeway, yet. They do own King Soopers.

    (Those are basically the last of the two unionized chains standing in Colorado. I get woozy with sticker shock whenever I go into one or the other. I do know for a fact Safeway has no problem with open carry, at least when its a pistol (i.e., normal everyday open carry, as opposed to special circumstances).)

  44. Kroger has a online survey you can take, its on your printed receipt. Just get on the website, fill out the survey and mention why you shop at kroger. PRO 2nd! Right now, those surveys and OSAT scores are a religion. OSAT=overall satified. I work for Kroger, trust me, that survey gets alot of attention from the upper management. They will see it!

  47. about time someone has some spine against these wackos. If they want to help, go to middle of the bad areas of town and protest gun violence. Public stores should follow state laws and not bend to political issues. They do want business from everyone.

  49. I support Kroger! Mom’s need to look at facts! There are better causes to support….Abortion’s are done every day..How many innocent babies are killed a day? Go protest that…

  50. I shop at Fry’s in Arizona and guns on hips are common sights here. My girlfriend was nervous about the reaction she would get until she saw someone else carrying as well.

  51. Fred Meyers in Soldotna, Alaska selling Guns to the Kenai Peninsula for years, not just a grocery store there!!!!

  52. In Hillsboro ,Ohio, Kroger has always posted no guns allowed . , Walmart allows guns . I conceal carry, don’t see where something you can’t see should bother you . Do not take in to Krogers due to their posting . I don’t think open carry is a good idea , think it does more to hurt our 2nd amendment rights than help . Question is, why does no one picket Walmart ?

  53. I open carry wherever I go and was asked by a manager to leave a Kroger in Wake Forest, North Carolina when I was strapped with an openly-carried Taurus PT945, exercising my legal rights as a citizen of North Carolina. So I don’t know why anyone would actually think the chain’s “stance” is pro-gun whatsoever. I have boycotted Kroger’s for the last 10 years because of this.

  55. I love shopping at Kroger anyway, whenever I’m near one, since there aren’t any where I now live, but this makes me want to shop there even more! Way to go Big K, and I don’t mean K-Mart!

  56. ” Brundage led a group of about 12 women …”

    In the photo I can only count 11x Hormonal-Hoplophobes, someone taking the photo (assumed to be the leader) and 1x Kroger store manager … which doesn’t count as 1x MadMom “leading” 12x Everynuts.

    It shows that their math skills truly suck when they cannot accurately count past the number of fingers they have!

    “How many of you were there Linda? …I don’t know Shannon, I ran out of fingers – I guess ABOUT 12 ?”

  57. You just might piss off the grannies who are already getting plenty of action.

    The Villages. America’ friendliest home town.

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