Costco is officially anti-gun, anti-CCW

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I'm becoming more and more convinced as this thread goes that the email was NOT corportate policy but the reply of one air headed moron working in customer service.

No one has seen a posted Costco in 4 pages of this that I can find.
 
longeyes:

The simple fact is that corporations are part of The Problem. And not just as regards the Second Amendment. Do I have to mention their role in promoting open borders? Corporations are about top-down control and the botom-line, not the values of the Founding Fathers.

Juvenile twaddle. All manufacturers of firearms and ammunition are corporations, and so are their distributors and large retail outlets. The NRA is a corporation and so are its affiliates such as the ILA. Gun Owners of America is a corporation and so is the Second Amendment Foundation. Most grassroots pro-gun groups are corporations, such as Pro-Gun New Hampshire, Inc.

Corporations are simply legal entities, and there are many different kinds of corporations. They are not inherently pro-gun or anti-gun, nor are they inherently big or small, rich or poor, honest or crooked, good or bad, profitable or unprofitable.

A great many Americans own shares in corporations and depend upon them to feed, cloathe, and house them and their children. They aren't evil. Many of them belong to this and other forums focused on firearms and they would be financially devastated if corporations were destroyed or weakened by people who, operating from a basis of ignorance and prejudice, lump all corporations together and attack them as you do here.

You might as well say that firearms "are part of The Problem," attack them and the people who own them, and advocate that they be banned because some people misuse them.
 
Except that one of their managers states IN WRITING and ON COMPANY LETTERHEAD that it IS a corportate policy.

There's a lot of people in any company with the title "manager" and all of them have access to company letterhead. That doesn't mean they have any idea of corporate policy or any real authority to speak.

The Costco individual who replied to that letter you posted is an assistant store manager. I was one of those at 19 at Zales. Whoopdee frikkin' do.

Seeing that there are so many stores not posted, it is the least uniformly applied and easily and blatantly ignored "corporate policy" I've ever heard of. Regional and store General Manager's heads should be rolling across the country (say, every single one in Alaska for starters) at that kind of policy violation.

Even if it is a true policy, if it is going to be unenforced, I don't have to care until my store infringes on my right or I find out the company as a whole directly supports laws banning ownership. If they just don't, on paper, want guns on their private property, so be it.
 
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TexasSIGMan said:
I'm becoming more and more convinced as this thread goes that the email was NOT corportate policy but the reply of one air headed moron working in customer service.

No one has seen a posted Costco in 4 pages of this that I can find.

I can confirm that it is corporate policy. I called all four locations in Ohio yesterday asking about it. Every manager I talked to knew of it.

If you listen to last night's archived episode of NRANews.com's "Cam & Company", fast forward an hour and twenty minutes into the show for more info on this and Ohioans For Concealed Carry. You can listen until the next live broadcast begins Wed at 9 EDT.
 
I can confirm that it is corporate policy. I called all four locations in Ohio yesterday asking about it. Every manager I talked to knew of it.

Please show the confirmation in writing from a company website or document other than an email or hearsay.

If it's corporate policy it will be in writing somewhere. If it's not then it's not really corporate policy, just manager by manager which is an entirely different thing, or state by state, or region by region, however they do it.

If it is indeed corporate policy why do hardly any of the stores enforce their companies' policy?

Just hearing some folks say they talked to someone that said they knew doesn't really mean much, no offense.
 
meanstreaker,

I want to emphasize that I'm not doubting you or the other posters who have local stores that have signs up, nor am I saying you all weren't told that it was corporate policy by managers that work for Costco.

What I and others are saying is that if it really IS a nationwide corporate policy, the corporation is not enforcing it in what appears to be a sizeable group of states.

That is not something corporations do, policy is policy and people get in trouble for breaking it. Since there are obvious and numerous violations (like all the stores in the entire State of Alaska not being posted) it really casts doubt on the claims of those individual managers you have talked to that it is really a nationwide policy.
 
The following recent incident at a Costco store in Spokane doesn't help our cause:

Shoppers flee after gunshot in Costco restroom

By The Associated Press


SPOKANE - Shoppers began fleeing a Costco store Thursday after a man in a restroom stall dropped his pistol, accidentally firing a bullet into the wall, a Spokane County sheriff's spokesman said.

The 59-year-old man, who was not identified by the sheriff's office, was released after deputies determined he had a valid concealed weapon permit and hadn't broken any laws.

Deputies said the man was carrying the .357-caliber semiautomatic pistol in a shoulder holster, but it fell out while he was in a restroom stall around noon on Thursday, Sgt. Dave Reagan said in a statement.

Another patron in the restroom alerted store employees after looking over the stall to find the gun owner fumbling with the pistol. Costco workers began evacuating the building, and deputies were called to the scene.

Authorities said the pistol was designed not to misfire when dropped, and deputies suggested the owner have it checked for defects.

They also said the ammunition was several years old, and the bullet that was fired did not manage to penetrate the restroom wall.
 
They also said the ammunition was several years old, and the bullet that was fired did not manage to penetrate the restroom wall.


Great, so now I have to go an freshen up my ammo stocks with new stuff so I can get the proper penetration.

Here in California this wouldn't have happened because the state has provided us with an approved list of guns that are drop tested for just this occurence.
They are taking care of us, with the states help we will out live everyone.:D

Vick
 
Except that one of their managers states IN WRITING and ON COMPANY LETTERHEAD that it IS a corportate policy.

After reading the letter, I think that the store manager that wrote it is either new to the corporation or he is not as informed as he should be (or wants to be).

First of all, COSTCO is a corporation headquarted in Washington state so a letter written on company letterhead with a Minnesota address and phone number is coming from a specific store or a regional office.

The letter says in part that COSTO is a private membership club with restriction on who can become a member. That simply is not true. While you do need a merbership card to purchase items at the store, anyone can become a member of COSTCO simply by going to the store, fill out the application form and pay the membership fee. That is clearly stated at the stores and on the company website. You can even join online!.

And here in WA, state laws says you do not even have to be a member of COSTCO to get a prescription filled at the pharmacy. Show your prescription to the door checker and you go right in. You pay at the pharmacy, not through the checkout lines.

The COSTCO website www.costco.com does not have any information there that holds up what was written in that letter with regards to carrying a concealed weapon. The author of the letter is IMHO, "speaking out of turn" and he appears to be basing the "rules" on his personal beliefs and not necessiarily any specific corporate policy.

Meanstreaker- Calling stores in Ohio may give you an idea of what Ohio stores and their managers do or understand in terms of operating their stores, the only way to fully confirm any COSTCO policy on firearms is to contact the corporate headquarters in Seattle. Their address is:
COSTCO
PO Box 34331
Seattle, WA 98124

You may be told that there is a corporate policy of restricting firearms, but it's entirely possible that that decision is left up to the individual stores.

I have never seen any sort of "no firearms" signage in the Washington and Oregon stores whee I have shopped.
 
Well that relly BLOWS! I didn't notice a sign at the Costco on Alexander Blvd., in Albuquerque, but I might have missed it, too. The Sam's Clubs and WWs are and have been posted for some time...DESPITE the fact that the very first CCL-Holder shooting in New Mexico occurred at a WW, while a WW EMPLOYEE was in the process of being stabbed by her SO inside the store and a 70-ish year-old CCL man saved her flippin' life!

In NM, it is illegal to carry on the premisis of a business which posts, and can lead to charges and loss of license.

...go figure~!
 
I saw

an article , a ccw dropped his gun, which went bang at a costco
in Washington state somewhere.
afaik hewasn't charged with anything.

in NV they can post but all it means is you are tresspassing if you don't leave when asked.
 
funny, im in CA at the moment and i went to Costco 2 days ago and didn't see a sign there. nevertheless i carried in their beloved store. i guess it wasn't a big deal because nobody noticed.

i should have requested that they carry ammo by the case though. i'm sure they would have pooped in their shorts.
 
1) Talk to the manager's manager. Talk to corp headquarters. Tell 'em you plan to shop at Sam's.

2) DEFINITELY talk to the area/region folks of ANY wally world or sam's club that posts. That is NOT their company policy.
 
I'd be interested to see if courts would enforce civil liability toward a business that prohibited shoppers from arming themselves and were later hurt by an armed assailant on the shoppers property... sort of like a premisis liability theory. I suppose the business would have to know or should know that armed assailant hurt people on their property. Or, alternately, if you complied and left your gun in your car and it was stolen would the store be liable for the theft (which was predictable) or any injuries resulting from it. Possibly on the theft, probably not on the injuries. Just a thought though.
 
I will point out however, we get all up in arms about this sort of thing, but the next time you go to your local gun store look at what they have on the door. I know here in GA, especially in the Atlanta area, that they have absolutely no loaded firearms are allowed signs on their doors. Maybe we should clean up our ranks before we go crusading against the antis.
Yep. The indoor range where I shoot has a "No loaded firearms beyond this point" sign at the entrance door. The sign pre-dates the current ownership, who did NOT have a similar sign at the door when it was just a gun shop. None of the regular customers pays any attention, the owner knows it, and the customers know that he knows it.

But the insurance company wants the sign.

It's like the signs in auto repair shops that say "No customers in shop area." I've never yet been in a dealership that tried to stop me from talking to the mechanic working on my vehicle, to see what he was finding. But having the sign is an insurance requirement. I guess the insurance people think at least some people will be deterred by the silly signs.
 
No signs at any of the Costcos we go to.

I wouldn't completely blame them, though. After the recent "I was playing with my gun in the bathroom and it went off" debacle it's not hard to understand why "Someone could have been killed, and we're the nearest deep pocket" would trump "By gum it's my gawd-given right to carry this thing anywhere I want, and don't you forget it!" It doesn't take too many idiots to ruin things for the decent people when there's real money at stake.
 
I'm actually happy to see more and more businesses posting signs prohibiting CCWs.

Because it's beginning to create a niche market for future business owners.

How many of you would leave a current staple business in favor of one that actually encourages CCW?

I'd gladly pay a small percentage premium to support a business that supported my 2A rights.
 
I've been carrying at my Costco for the last couple years. I had heard about this policy through one of our state gun orgs. Last week I found the sign --high above an inside entry door. I decided to talk to the manager about this. Unfortunately they have quite a few managers so I kept this ones name in case it's needed. She told me that firearms where not allowed unless you had a permit--then it's ok--that seems reasonable I guess--BTW I do have a CCW.
Also noticed on the state gun org site that another Costco on the other side of town had repented and removed the no gun sign.
NOTE:the sign at my Costco says no weapons/guns or sharp/pointy objects.This place sells knives and utility knives and Leathermans etc. so what's the deal with that?My self defense rig includes gun and knife and will continue to do so unless I'm informed otherwise and at that point my Costco membership will end.
Note again: This store has no armed security what-so -ever. Not in the store or the parking lot. Doesn't seem prudent in this day and age.
 
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