imported post
Thanks for the feedback from everyone that was helpful to me. Sorry for not having the time to fill you in on the details. Here is what happened:
I was at the Kmart on Military highway last evening. It was a warm evening, so my jacket was off, and my revolver in OWB holster was clearly visible. I have OCed in the store on numerous occasions. I was in the store between 30 and 45 minutes, in various places in the store. There weren't many customers, and certainly employees must have seen me and noticed the handgun.
I went through the checkout line and paid for my purchases, then a security guard came up to me and said that a manager had asked that I not open-carry in the store. The security guard suggested that I carry concealed when I came into the store. (He didn't ask if I had a permit, though.) I then asked if I could speak to the store manager. He directed me to the loss-prevention manager on duty that evening. The loss-prevention manager invited me in to his office. He said that an employee complained about my handgun. I asked if this was a store policy or a corporate policy. At first he said that it was a store policy, because of the neighborhood in which the store is located, then he said that it was a corporate-wide policy. I asked if I could see the policy. He searched some books in his office, then came up with something in one of the books that addressed off-duty police officers. I said that I did not believe this applied to me, as I was not an off-duty police officer. He said that the first paragraph did apply to me, even though the rest of the document did not apply to me. I stated that the paragraph could not be divorced from its context, which only applied to off-duty police officers. (I'm pretty sure that this document pertained to security officers hired by Kmart, but I didn't get a chance to look at the book that closely.) I said that I was not trying to argue with him--and at that point he cut me off and said that I was arguing with him. The conversation ended soon after that, with me leaving.
I called the store to ask to speak to the store manager. The store manager was not there, as he is now the acting general manager for the region. I was able to track him down, and spoke with him. He was in agreement that there was no reason to prohibit open carry, but wanted to do a little investigation and call me back. Within the hour he had the loss-prevention manager of the Virginia Beach region call me back. This manager said that he did some investigation, and that there is no Kmart prohibition against open carry. According to the information he provided, they apparently are following state laws on the matter, with no further restrictions. He said that he would be notifying the store personnel concerning firearms, so that there should not be any problems in the future.
This was a very happy ending to the confrontation. I saw the security guard this evening at the store, and he said that the store had contacted the security company about the confrontation. I told the security guard that I did not have a problem with what he did, and give him my number in case his superiors wanted to speak with me about it. (Now that I think about it, I bet that the employee that noticed the gun and didn't like it was, in fact, the security guard. Not sure about that, though.)
So, now that the general manager for the entire region is aware of OC (and is o.k. with it), and the loss-prevention manager for the Virginia Beach reason is aware of OC (and is o.k. with it), I don't expect that we will have any problems OCing in the Tidewater area. It was nice to speak to some managers who understood the real issues and were supportive of the rights of their customers.
It was a good day.
Glenn