Here is the letter from the Spearfish WalMart, received this week, and my response.
Thank you for the concerned letter, and I absolutely apologize for any misunderstanding of what our policy is and/or isn't, concerning firearms and whether or not someone can openly carry on our property.
WalMart has no policy to restrict any person who is legally carrying a firearm. That being said, my first concern must be safety, and an associate may ask to walk out ammunition for a customer when he or she is openly carrying a firearm as an added safety measure. This is not to restrict a sale, but is just an added step to ensure a firearm is not loaded inside our store.
Again, I'm sorry for any miscommunication when you were here in the store before, and I will re-communicate our policy with the members of management of this store.
Travis Olson
Co-Manager 1543
My response:
Dear Mr. Olson,
Your apology is gladly accepted, but you have not clarified the policy very well.
Reading your letter, I get two messages. The first is that open carry is allowed.The second seems to be that it can't be loaded.
An unloaded gun does not represent any increase in safety to me or to your employees/customers - but it could spell the difference between life and death in a lethal encounter with a criminal.
I am a responsible, well trained adult. I fail to see any difference between the ammunition in the cart and what is already in my sidearm. There are probably a dozen or more people in your store at any given time carrying concealed. I assume they don't announce their status when they buy ammunition.
Anyone who, in any way, becomes aggressive or physically endangers others should be promptly removed from the store. Those who are peaceful and non-aggressive should be left alone. The mere presence of a tool on one's belt does not constitute a danger to innocent bystanders, whether it is a gun or a hammer. That seems simple enough.
Unfortunately, you seem to be laboring under at least some of the same disinformation so dear to all those who would create vast seas of disarmed victims. Somehow, the gun or the ammunition is the evil problem, regardless of who is using them.
So, I am still at a loss to understand just what to expect if I return to your store.
Sincerely,
Follow-up on the Spearfish WalMart
Thursday, March 29, I returned to the Spearfish Walmart to shop, not having heard anything in response to my second letter.
I had no problems, no hassles and no contact with management. I handed out one of my cards to a checker who asked if I needed a permit for the gun, but nobody else even seemed to notice this time.
That's good. I like it that way. ML