Anti-Gun Group Grades Retailers On Carry Policies, Political Donations

The group “Guns Down”, which advocates for “safer communities with fewer guns” is out with a report card on America’s retailers and their policies on carrying firearms in their stores. Gun owners will be happy to know that most of the companies surveyed received a failing grade from the anti-gun organization because they don’t ban lawfully carried firearms from their stores. From CNN:

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Just three companies — Kroger, Old Navy, and Walmart — received As. Sixteen of them received Fs.
The project is meant to push retailers to “lean into gun reform,” said Igor Volsky, founder and executive director of advocacy group Guns Down America, which headed the project. The group also wanted to give retailers a clear path to improving their “grade” and getting involved in the movement.
The “report card” didn’t just grade companies on their policies, however. As Newsweek reported, corporations were also dinged for donating money to politicians that support the Second Amendment as well.

Some companies such as Kohl’s and 7-Eleven failed the test for not having any in-store gun policies and for not publicly demanding action on gun reform. However, both companies received marks for not donating money to any major Congressional recipients of NRA dollars.

While companies such as McDonald’s and Chick-Fil-A were marked up for following local laws with regards to carrying guns in store, neither have called for a change in gun laws and McDonald’s were found to have donated $64,000 to congressman who have also received money from the NRA.

Two companies received the lowest mark possible, having scored zero in all three categories. Lowe’s received an F grade for not only having no in-store gun policy and for not calling for gun reform, but also for giving $163,000 in political donations to NRA recipients in Congress.

Home Depot also has no store policy, not demanded gun reform and has donated $469,500 to Congressional recipients of NRA dollars.

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In other words, this isn’t about safety, it’s about shame. Igor Volsky and his merry band of gun-banners are hoping to apply public pressure to these companies in an attempt to get them to not only ban guns from their stores, but to direct any campaign donations to anti-gun candidates as well.
Ironically, Walmart, which stopped selling most ammunition and firearms recently, gets an A for their efforts, even though they haven’t banned the carrying of firearms in their stores (though the company has requested that customers do not open carry in stores). What really seems to matter to the gun control group issuing this “report card” isn’t the actual policy of the companies in question, but how much virtue-signaling they’re willing to engage in to receive the accolades of anti-gun activists.
I think I’ll have lunch at F-rated Chick Fil-A today, or maybe take the family out to F-rated Applebees for dinner tonight. I also need to run by F-rated Lowe’s to pick up a couple of things for the farm, though I might visit the F-rated Home Depot instead if we had one in Farmville. I appreciate the efforts of Volsky and Guns Down to let us know which companies have (so far, anyway) resisted the urge to kowtow to gun control groups. It makes it a little easier for me to decide where I want to spend my money. I haven’t quit shopping at Walmart entirely, but I definitely prefer to shop at stores that aren’t using their profits to target my constitutional rights.
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