Just months after Publix sparked controversy by implementing a policy allowing customers to openly carry firearms in its stores, the Lakeland-based grocery store chain appears to have reversed course.
New signs posted at Publix stores now state: “Publix kindly asks that only law enforcement openly carry firearms in our stores.”
The message appears near the bottom of a broader list of store rules, alongside more routine policies like no pets and no soliciting.
A Publix customer service representative confirmed the policy change to Suncoast Searchlight and pointed to the Publix communications department for further questions. Suncoast Searchlight reached out to multiple Publix communications officials to understand the motive behind the decision. None responded by the time of publication.
Publix had adopted its open-carry policy last year after a Florida court ruling struck down the state’s ban on open carry except in self defense. At the time, Publix said it was acting to comply with “all federal, state and local laws.”
The decision drew criticism from some gun safety advocates because the ruling did not require private businesses to permit open carry. Other major grocery store chains, including Walmart and Costco, did not follow suit.
Though the wording on the new signs uses phrases like “kindly asks” and “prefers,” Spencer Myers, a state policy attorney with Giffords Law Center, a gun control lobbying group founded after the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, said Publix has every right as a private business to ask customers who open carry in its stores to leave.
“A sign like that is meant to be a deterrent, rather than something that, on its own, is fully carrying the force of law,” Myers said. “It’s likely that these signs are meant to serve as a deterrent to circumstances where a store owner would have to ask someone to leave and to, instead, deter them from creating that situation in the first place.”
Suncoast Searchlight reached out to Florida Carry, a nonprofit that advocates for repealing gun control laws, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Myers said he’s not surprised Publix changed its policy.
If shoppers have their guns drawn or displayed, he said, it can create confusion for law enforcement responding to an emergency by not being able to immediately identify the threat.
Public safety is also impacted by open carry policies, as Myers said allowing teenagers and others to openly carry firearms with minimal background checks creates an environment of fear in communal places like grocery stores.
“There is definite confusion and danger that results from open carry, and I think a lot of that can lead to a desire to avoid businesses that allow open carry on their premises,” Myers said. “You can certainly understand why someone who’s going grocery shopping might not want to go to a store that’s full of people who are openly displaying firearms.”
Clinton Engelberger is a contributing writer for Suncoast Searchlight. Email him at clintonengelberger@gmail.com.
This story was originally published by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom delivering investigative journalism to Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.
