What they were hoping for is the headline, “Kroger disses open carry”. It didn’t matter no one was doing it. IMO, open carry does make people nervous. They don’t know if you are planning a jihad or your wife just left you, or you just got fired. Concealed carry does none of this. If you are toting a rifle around a store on your shoulder with a 30 rd mag, and you so much as twitch, someone with a concealed carry might react. I’m 63 and have lived in Texas all my life. NO ONE, ever carried anything openly except to the gun store to get it worked on in all those years. To carry an AK into Kroger just makes no sense unless you have a bad motive. I know they all say they want to make a point, but the point IS hurting the rest of us. Even charter members of the NRA would be nervous seeing a 22 year old Iranian walking through Kroger with an AR. Remember, EVERYONE uses the same rules. How about Mike Brown bringing a .308 into 7-11 in Ferguson? What would you think? Not everyone is a trained gun owner fighting for gun rights. If I saw a young male, any flavor, enter an establishment with open carry I and my family were in, I would immediately unsnap and start moving for the door. That’s just a natural reaction. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, and from what I see today, most have no idea about gun safety. My dad taught me at 8 yrs old with threats of beatings and never touching a gun again if I didn’t follow the gun rules. Today, you take an 8 hour course while nodding off to sleep and you get a gubmint license.
People in Arizona open carry in convenience stores and nobody blinks.
Me? If I am forced to reveal the fact I am carrying, I want it to come as a complete surprise.