Florida-based supermarket chain Publix announced it would allow open carry of handguns in its stores. The change was made after a federal judge overturned the state’s prohibition on open carry in September. The company said it wanted to keep its policies in line with state laws.
Of course, the gun-grabbers and mainstream media immediately swooped in, appropriately aghast and confidently predicting the apocalypse.
The-Group-Known-This-Week-As-Giffords quickly posted on its Facebook page:
Publix—Florida’s largest grocery store chain—will now allow shoppers to openly carry guns in their stores. This comes less than a month after a court struck down Florida’s ban on open carry.
“We should all be able to go on a grocery run without worrying about if we’ll make it home. But now anyone can openly carry a gun without a background check or training—no questions asked. It makes it harder for police to do their jobs and is proven to undermine public safety. This is a major threat to all Floridians.”
A shorter version of the Facebook post, upgrading the ‘major threat’ to a ‘massive threat’, appeared on X.
Somebody let Burger King know Giffords is the new “Home of the Whopper.”
Currently, thirty-eight, or 76%, of the 50 states allow permitless open carry of some sort. There doesn’t appear to be any pattern of shootouts in the dairy aisles in those states. Some of those states have allowed open carry since they became states and joined the Union.
The Giffords’ open carry claims are the same as those gun control fans employ to resist the expansion of constitutional carry. Some of them are even humorous: We’re not sure how open carry makes law enforcement more challenging; officers can immediately identify the armed people.
In any event, they have tried the same arguments 27 times since 2003, and they have been proven wrong 27 times since 2003.*
Giffords is free to make any claims it wishes. It’s also free to reap the whirlwind for its fearmongering and hype.
*Vermont has never required a permit to carry; Alaska, always an open carry state, dropped the requirement to carry a concealed handgun in 2003. Had North Carolina Republicans been able to override a veto in the most recent session, the Tarheel State would have become the 30th constitutional carry state.
America’s 3D Gun Printing Boom …Smells Like Good Old Freedom In Action
About Bill Cawthon
Bill Cawthon first became a gun owner 55 years ago. He has been an active advocate for Americans’ civil liberties for more than a decade. He is the information director for the Second Amendment Society of Texas.
Unglued is good. But I want to see Gifford’s completely delaminate.
A lot of “Giffords” people really should spend some more time trying to get laid. Maybe it will help get rid of some of their frustration and anger.
Okay Johnny Ringo! Your time is nigh! Meet me on Aisle 10, near the produce department and we’ll find out who’s the fastest!
/sarcasm
Anyone who doesn’t want to carry a gun in the store doesn’t have to. Anyone who doesn’t want to carry their reusable grocery bags into the store doesn’t have to. Anyone who doesn’t want to buy exclusively organic produce in the store doesn’t have to. Anyone who doesn’t want to pay for their groceries by credit or debit card in the store doesn’t have to. We enjoy SO many liberties that citizens of other countries can only marvel.
It’s the same, tired old garbage everytime with these people. Here is a fact. Before Texas went to Constitutional carry by license holders, the Texas Dept of Public Safety had to produce an annual report on gun holders and crimes associated with them. What this report showed every year was that Licensed gun owners committed violent crimes at rates considerably lower than the population as a whole, and their violent crime rates were even lower than police officers. People who get licensed and qualified on a range simply don’t commit violent crime, and attempts to say otherwise are just so… Read more »
It’s amazing that Open Carry at Publix in FL. is causing all this attention. Open Carry in Texas is just SOP including state buildings like the TEXAS Capitol. Florida Open Carry should had been included in its so-called Constitutional Carry legislation. But Desantis didn’t want it!
Ole Gabby Gifford, pimped out by cue ball hubby as the Village Idiot of Gun Control. Had she or others been packing’n’practiced on her winning day in the daily Evil Dispensing Violence Lottery, she might not have her personal challenges today.
Thank you for the timing of this article; it reminded me that I need milk. I’m off to Publix, my new favorite grocery store.
My question for Senator Mark Kelly, D, AZ., is “Who was in charge of security when his wife Gabby Giffords was shot, along with others”? This event is what created “The Giffords Gun Control Group.” Inquiring minds want to know.
kind of rhetorical question here but, how many times are these anti-freedom groups going to play henny penny before they are relegated to the trash heap of history.
so far they have been wrong on EVERY prognostication they have made about firearms. well, at least they are batting 100%.