The behavior of major retailers, who own large swaths of private property open to the public, aligns with these preferences. Some of the country’s biggest chains—including Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, and Target—generally prohibit their customers from carrying firearms inside their stores. . . .
We then asked Grok and ChatGPT the follow answer: “In a state such as Arizona, Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas, stores can post signs banning permitted concealed carry in their stories if they don’t want people to carry permitted concealed handguns in their stores. If stores want to prevent people carrying permitted concealed handguns, they can post a sign banning such carrying. Do Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Costco, and Target have a policy where they post the sign at all their stores?”
These companies can easily ban customers from carrying permitted concealed handguns in states that give them the option. In Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin, private business owners have the option to post signs to make concealed carry illegal on their property, triggering criminal trespass charges for license holders who disregard the signs. Yet, none of these companies adopt a policy to post such signs banning permitted concealed handguns in any of these states where these companies have a choice.
Even if a company says they prefer customers not carrying concealed handguns in their stores, without posting signs, their policies function more as internal requests or guidelines rather than an actual prohibition, relying on civil enforcement like asking someone to leave (with refusal leading to trespass charges). If these retailers were truly intent on a “general prohibition,” they could easily implement it via inexpesnsive signage, but their choice not to suggests a more nuanced approach that defers to local laws while signaling a preference against guns for safety reasons. The lack of signs means no “general prohibition” in the enforceable sense for concealed carry holders.
Costco says it prohibits carrying concealed handguns, but the prohibition is without posting any signage. We have investigated whether Costco posts signs in Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, but in none of those states are signs posted. This gap between Costco’s stated policy and actionable enforcement rebuts the amicus brief’s claim that this or any other stores actually prohibits concealed carry.
Some stores do prohibit open carry, but the case before the Supreme Court deals with concealed carry. Here is a lengthy 2019 article from The Hill which lists Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, Target, Albertsons, Publix, Aldi, H-E-B Grocery, and Starbucks as places that request people not to openly carry guns in their stores. A similar Associated Press article is available here. Publix is one chain that now allows people to openly carry guns in their stores (see here for a 2025 article).
Walmart’s website states:
Open Carry of Firearms
Motivated by our desire to create a safe environment in our stores and clubs, we request that customers no longer openly carry firearms into Walmart or Sam’s Club locations in states where open carry is permitted – unless they are authorized law enforcement. As of September 2019, we are working to create and display new signage to help communicate this policy.
We will continue to follow state and local laws regarding concealed carry permit holders.
Kroger’s website states:
Kroger does not sell firearms. Across the country, we follow local laws regarding open carry policies. We also ask our associates and customers not to bring firearms to Kroger facilities, even in communities where it’s permitted.
Walgreen’s website states
We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials.
Target’s website states
Our position on firearms in stores
While we continue to follow local laws regarding open carry policies, we also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target, even in communities where it’s permitted. Your cooperation helps us fulfill our goal to create an atmosphere of family-friendly shopping that’s safe and inviting for our guests and team members.
While Hawaii requires a concealed handgun permit to carry a gun in public and these private businesses, there are 29 Constitutional Carry states that don’t require people to have a permit to carry. But, as we show at the bottom of this page, none of these stores even require people to have a permit to carry in their stores.
For Grok on whether these stores post signs banning people with concealed handgun permits from carrying in their stores. A link to the other corporate polices is available here or the most recent news stories on these policies is available here.
From ChatGPT on whether these stores post signs banning people with concealed handgun permits from carrying in their stores
For Grok on whether these stores post signs banning people without concealed handgun permits from carrying in their stores:
For ChatGPT on whether these stores post signs banning people without concealed handgun permits from carrying in their stores:
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