For Immediate Release: September 3, 2019
Media Contact: Taylor Campbell, 202-854-9571, [email protected]

Walmart Associates: Gun Policy Shift Must Be Followed with Denunciation of Trump’s White Supremacist Rhetoric and Policy

NATIONWIDE — Today, in response to Walmart’s announcement that it will discontinue all sales of short-barrel rifle and handgun ammunition and request customers to no longer openly carry firearms in stores, Gabriela Navarette, a Walmart associate in Texas and member of United For Respect, issued the following statement:

“While we are encouraged to see Walmart owning its role in making our country safer, Doug McMillon and corporate leadership can and must go further to end the violence that threatens us all.

Walmart should ban customers from bringing guns and rifles into stores for the very reason McMillon cited in his memo: guns, even the sight of them, create an unsafe space. No one, other than the police, should be able to carry guns in any Walmart store. Period. Politely asking customers to not bring guns, as McMillon did, will only invite dangerous individuals to openly challenge the policy and endanger associates and customers, as we saw in Missouri just days after the tragedy in El Paso.

Walmart associates trust that McMillion and Walmart leadership are smart enough to know that changing our stores’ policies is only part of the solution. Before killing 22 people in a Walmart store,the El Paso killer was inspired by a white supremacist playbook of dehumanizing and scapegoating immigrants that this president continues to feed. Trump didn’t pull the trigger, but his attacks on people of color and immigrants are fueling lethal violence and hate crimes.  If McMillon believes the status quo is unacceptable, then he should denounce white supremacist hate speech, condemn those who espouse it, and withdraw from Trump’s advisory council immediately.”