Every week there’s another story about people abusing open carry laws, causing panic and wasting local police resources.  It’s unclear what point these people are trying to make but I believe the outcome of this behavior is clear – an increased use of no-gun signs.

A perfect example of this took place in Mississippi.  According to the articles I read, two men were walking around a Walmart store with a shotgun.  Customers became scared when the men began loading and racking shells into the gun.  The police were called, SWAT was dispatched and the store was evacuated.

By the time the police arrived, the men were gone.  It was later discovered that the men had done the same thing earlier in the day at a grocery store, also causing the police to be called.  The men were ultimately found but the police did not arrest them because they felt the men’s actions were compliant with state open carry laws.

The police chief voiced his frustrations:

“If I were in a situation where I’m in the store shopping with my family and I see an individual loading a 12 gauge, and racking it, I’m not coming to the conclusion this is good,” said the Chief. “While the actions of these two men are sanctioned by state laws, what they did negatively impacted our community.”

Several days and may news stories later, the police arrested the two men.  The police stated that the men “engaged in the lawful open carry of a pump-action shotgun,” but then loaded the shotgun and pumped it in front of witnesses, creating a breach of the peace.

The majority of retailers, restaurants and hospitality companies currently follow state law, which means they allow open and concealed carry on their property when it is allowed by state law.   In my opinion, this is likely going to change if the abuse of open carry laws continues.

The events like the one at Walmart in Mississippi can impact a retailer, restaurant or hospitality company in many ways, including: (1) scaring employees and creating an unhappy work environment; (2) causing quick turnover of employees; (3) forcing employees to respond to potentially dangerous situations; (4) scaring customers; (5) causing customers to take their business elsewhere; (6) giving notice to a company of potentially violent situations; and (7) creating liability on the company if a shooting takes place.

The only way to prevent these situations from taking place is to prevent all guns from being brought onto the property.  As the Mississippi police chief pointed out, when someone loads and racks a shotgun inside a store, it is logical and reasonable to assume a violent situation is about to occur.  Therefore, if people are going to abuse open carry laws, retailers, restaurants and hospitality companies must protect themselves.  From my perspective as a defense attorney, no-guns signs seem to be the only way companies can truly protect themselves if they have been targeted by open carry abusers.

This is clearly a trend that needs to be monitored, considering that 45 of the 50 states allow open carry to some extent.  Companies need to frequently analyze how to respond to gun incidents and determine if no-gun signs are appropriate.

To read the article on the Mississippi incident:  http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-walmart-shoppers/

Photograph courtesy of:  https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/34mq0p/gun_owner_explains_why_open_carry_laws_are_a_bad/