Sens. Blumenthal and Murphy demand Subway ban open carry of firearms in eateries
Connecticut”™s U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy called on Milford-based Subway to ban patrons from the open carry of firearms in its restaurants.
The senators sent an open letter to Subway CEO John Chidsey citing news photographs from May of armed demonstrators in North Carolina who stopped at a Subway in Raleigh during protests against the state”™s shelter-at-home restrictions.
The senators acknowledged that no law was broken because North Carolina is an open carry state ”“ and they failed to mention that the people with guns in the photographs were peaceful and never used their weapons, either in the Subway or during the demonstration. Nonetheless, they insisted that “no person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants.”
“Since 2014, Subway experienced at least 65 incidents of gun violence in or near its restaurants, culminating in more than 20 deaths and almost 30 injuries,” the senators wrote in their letter. “As the CEO of Subway, you have both the means and the opportunity to take action to protect your employees and customers by instituting a ban on the open carry of firearms in your restaurants. Such a ban would follow similar actions taken by Chipotle, Sonic, Chili”™s, Target, Walmart, Panera Bread, Whole Foods, Starbucks, Aldi, CVS and Walgreens.”
Subway did not publicly comment on the senators”™ request.