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Today's Costco experience.

Ironbar

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
385
Location
Tigard, Oregon, USA
imported post

OK, so I decide to intentionally go shopping at Costco today in response to the other Costco thread, and what happened to djhawes. Here is my experience.

I'm in the Tigard, ORstore for a little while shopping for sunglasses. I'm being assisted at the optical shop, and I'm just about ready to wrap up my transaction when I'm approached by two employees. The first one, Steve, inquires if I'm a LEO. I say no, and that I'm just an ordinary citizen exercising my 2nd Amendment rights.

So, Steve seems genuinely surprised that I'm not a LEO. He reports that he's never seen a civilian carry before. He was under the impression that it was not legal. So I inform him of the carry-ban cities, and that it IS legal with a CHL. I also give these two gentlemen a little background into Oregon law, and that it is a "shall issue" state, and a right to carry state. They didn't know it was a right to carry state.

So anyway these fellows inform me of Costco's policy of firearms/gun ban. Steve reports that it's in the membership material. I report to him that I have recently read over all the membership material and it is NOT in there. So the other fellow (I forget his name) goes to get it for me. So Steve and I chat for a bit.

The other fellow comes back after while with what appears to a form letter that Costco managers send to people in this situation, and was almost verbatim to the e-mail that djhawes received from Sher Moyer. I will post a copy of this letter on this thread tomorrow.

Anyway, the bottom line is that Costco does not allow open carry in their stores in spite of the fact that there's no actual written policy. I suspect that one will probably be forthcoming. Steve and the other fellow however stated in no uncertain terms that I was perfectly OK carrying concealed inside the store. So in reality, Costco just doesn'twant toSEE your gun.

Now as an epilogue, I would like to say that both Steve and the other gentleman that spoke to me were just that: gentlemen. They were non-confrontational about the whole thing, theywere both pro-gun and 2nd Amendment, and I have absolutely no beef with Costco or these two. They were perfectly polite, and I was allowed to complete my purchase and leave without a hassle.

So, I will continue to shop at Costco, however I will now carry concealed while doing so. I also intend to send a letter to Mr. Niels Knowlton, General Manager about this situation.
 

Reverend45Cal

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
37
Location
Aloha, Oregon, USA
imported post

Good to know, i have CC in there before, but never tried to OC. I am just getting into open carry.

Would love to see what they put int hat letter.
 

We-the-People

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
2,221
Location
White City, Oregon, USA
imported post

Glad to hear that they're at least "out of sight out of mind" BUT.....My wife and I have drawn our line and we will not support businesses that either deny the right to carry or are hypocritical and say that they just don't want to see it.

That's a bit picky but it's our line.

On the other hand, we certainly won't bust on those that say "out of sight out of mind" as I think that would be counter productive to the cause and just cause a good number of those businesses to say "okay fine, no carry".

Just my take on the situation.
 

FMCDH

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
2,037
Location
St. Louis, MO
imported post

This isn't anything new, as Costco has been a CC preferred establishment since before I started to carry 13 years ago, albeit the rule has been poorly enforced on any uniform basis.

Contrary to popular belief, Costco is not an anti 2A corporation, they simply consider themselves a corporation that is catering to the greater demand, or the "perceived" demand of their greater customer base in any given location.

Costco doesn't have a uniform written corporate rule on firearms because they want the wiggle room to change their policy based upon the local temperament on the issue.

You want to change your local Costo's attitude to allowing OC? Get the people in the community to OC and show their support for OC, and I guarantee that once the local customer base starts making its feelings known on the matter, the Costco will change it local policies to match.
 

We-the-People

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
2,221
Location
White City, Oregon, USA
imported post

I have a better idea. A T shirt that says "open carry is legal in Oregon, Am I carrying?"

OR

"IfI'm concealing a handgunit's because this businessmakes me"

Yup, it's pushing, but that's what I do.
 
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