What is Publix’s open-carry policy? Supermarket explains new signs
Can you open-carry in Publix?
Last October, Publix indicated that yes, shoppers can enter with visible firearms: “Florida law allows the open carry of firearms. Publix follows all federal, state and local laws,” the company said in a statement at the time.
In May, Publix appeared to roll back that new gun policy. New signs went up on the front door that say: “Publix kindly asks that only law enforcement openly carry firearms in our stores.”
The Florida supermarket chain didn’t explain the change or respond to media inquiries.
This week, company spokesperson Lindsey Willis responded in an email to the Miami Herald: “Our policy has not changed. We kindly ask that only law enforcement officials openly carry in our stores.”
Willis hasn’t responded to follow-up questions about how that corresponds with Publix’s initial statement last October that open-carry would be allowed as per Florida law. She also didn’t address whether Publix’s new “ask” is just that — an ask — or a binding rule that can get a gun-packing shopper tossed from a store.
The new signs and message on the company website mirror a Publix policy in 2019. Back then, the Lakeland-based grocery giant said that it “respectfully requests that only law enforcement officials openly carry firearms in our stores.” That policy applied even in states where open carry was legally allowed at the time.
Last fall, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a memo to law enforcement officers that open carry is “the law of the state,” following a First District Court of Appeal ruling that Florida’s ban on open carry was unconstitutional. Uthmeier’s ruling went into effect on Sept. 25.
Publix’s decision to allow customers to open carry came in early October, about two weeks after the effective date.
READ MORE: Publix allows open carry, but what about Miami-area Winn-Dixie, malls, theaters?
During the six months of open carry at Publix, no major incidents were reported. In late April, a person accidentally discharged a weapon at a Miramar Publix and police conducted a safety sweep of the store. No one was hit or hurt, and it’s not known whether the accidental shooter was open-carrying the firearm, the Herald reported.
Then in May, the new signs were posted that seemingly pulled back from open-carry for anyone.
Despite Florida’s open-carry law, private businesses have the right to set their own policies. Most stores and malls in South Florida ban concealed guns and the open carry of firearms. And open-carry is banned in many public buildings including schools, hospitals, courts and police stations.
“Even in states with broad firearm protections, private businesses still generally have the right to set rules for conduct inside their stores,” Judge Tarlika Nunez-Navarro, a former Florida Circuit Court judge and dean at St. Thomas University College of Law, told The New York Post in a story published May 12.
