WEST HARTFORD--Connecticut grocery stores are feeling the pressure to push a policy of no guns allowed.
The group called for supermarket chain Kroger to be boycotted, and now the drive is gaining traction nationwide, including here in Connecticut.
That has the Connecticut Food Association offering guidance to local supermarkets on developing policies to handle concerns a shopper or an employee might have if another shopper is clearly carrying a handgun.
"Connecticut Food Association is actually leading that dialogue with our members, they will make decisions based on what's best for their businesses," Wayne Pesce, the association's president, said.
According to Connecticut law, gun owners with an open carry permit are allowed to do so wherever they go, even in grocery stores, unless a store posts a clearly visible sign or it's verbally said that guns are not allowed.
In the past, chains like Target, AMC Theaters, Panera Bread and Chipotle have issued bans on guns, and other stores such as Starbucks have requested gun owners leave their weapons at home, though there is not a ban. A pro-Second Amendment website even has a list of stores that gun owners should boycott.