Open Carry & The Walmart Greeter
By VCDL Member: Frank Mattero
Covington VA – -(Ammoland.com)- With all the bad press on carrying a handgun, I thought that I would relate an incident that happened to me to balance it out.
About a month ago I was with my wife shopping. We went into our local WalMart here in Fredericksburg. While she went on into the store I happened to linger near the entrance checking out the videos for rent. I habitually open carry (H&K .45) and was doing so that day. I noticed that the elderly woman greeter was observing me and seemed a little nervous.
She approached me and asked if I was a police officer, to which I replied that no I was not. She then responded that she did not think that guns were allowed to be carried in the store.
She said, “I know that you cannot return guns and ammunition” and I told her that I believed that to be the case, but that open carry as well as legal concealed carry was not prohibited by Walmart, especially at this store as I was a frequent shopper here.
She asked me to wait a moment while she went and checked and I told her that it was not a problem I would wait. A few minutes later she returned and told me that I was correct and we had short cordial conversation on why I carry a gun.
As I was about to go into the store and join my wife, she thanked me for being so understanding and to enjoy my shopping.
Her final comment was “please don’t go berserk while you are here.” I assured her that I would not. [PVC: I would have asked her to do the same 😉 ]
About:
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right. Visit: www.vcdl.org
Thank you for open carrying and exercising the 2nd amendment. I also live in an open carry state but most people are too afraid too be harased by the police or have the anti-gun crowd start an argument with them. Its good you have the courage to put up with it.