Three more big retailers request gun owners to not open carry in their stores

Walgreens, CVS, and Wegmans on Thursday joined the list of businesses that are asking customers to avoid openly carrying guns in their stores.

The push to request customers not to open carry began after seven people lost their lives Saturday in a Texas mass killing. The massacre wounded more than 20 other people. Police killed the suspect in an exchange of gunfire shortly after the incident took place.

What are the details?

Walgreens announced in a statement on its website that the company is "joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials."

A spokesperson for CVS issued a statement to CNN about the new policy:

We support the efforts of individuals and groups working to prevent gun violence, and continually review our policies and procedures to ensure our stores remain a safe environment.

And Wegmans issued a statement about its new policy on Twitter:

There's nothing more important than the safety of our customers & employees. The sight of someone with a gun can be alarming, and we don't want anyone to feel that way at Wegmans. For this reason, we prefer that customers not openly carry firearms into our stores.

What else?

On Tuesday, Walmart publicly requested that customers no longer openly carry guns into its stores.

In an expanded statement, a spokesperson for Walmart told TheBlaze that they will respect their customers and will have a "non-confrontational approach" to asking them to avoid openly carrying in stores.

"It's not exactly accurate to say open carry is banned, what we are doing is asking people not to do it. We will treat law-abiding customers with respect, and we will have a very non-confrontational approach. Our first priority is safety. We will be providing new signage to help communicate this policy in the coming weeks," the statement explained.

"We will respectfully request that they do not carry," the statement added. "The discretion will be given to the store manager. If there is not imminent threat, the SM can ask them to leave the weapon in the vehicle for next time. If the customer is causing concern or fear with customers/associates, the store manager can then approach the customer and/or follow necessary protocols for a potential active shooter. In some states, open carry is very common, so again, some discretion will be given to the store manager."

On Wednesday, Kroger announced that it would also ask its customers to avoid open carry in their stores.