MESA, ARIZONA — A reader, Victor, posted his recent Costco story on our Facebook page, and it was intriguing enough to share with everyone else. I spoke with him afterwards to get a little more of the story as well. Here goes:
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So… I stopped by Costco in Mesa Arizona today. I was carrying concealed and I guess the doorman noticed a slight bulge in my right hip under my shirt. He then tell me I can’t come in the store armed. I looked around and there where no signs posted anywhere prohibiting carrying firearms. Still after having a discussion with management I wasn’t allowed and they say is a Costco policy. I’ve been shopping there for years and always carry concealed. I have a CCW but is not needed in Arizona. I asked the management, what stops some one else with bad intentions walking in with a firearm ?… I got the same robotic response. So what they told me was that since I had disclosed that I in fact was armed, I couldn’t walk in.
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While it’s been Costco’s policy not to allow firearms in their stores for a while, it’s pretty . . . ballsy . . . for an employee to see a bulge, not knowing what it really is, and then telling the customer that he needs to leave the store.
Just to confirm this (my above assumption based on the story), I asked Victor if the employee did indeed assume that it was a firearm. Sure enough, he did. Here are the steps that occurred according to Victor, in TL;DR format:
1) Victor walks into Costco in Mesa, AZ
2) An employee sees a bulge and immediately believes it’s a firearm and tells him that he can’t bring a firearm in, per their No Firearms policy
3) Victor tells him that it is a firearm and that it’s concealed
4) Management gets involved and tells Victor to leave as well
According to the Legal Heat app, Victor wasn’t breaking the law since there were no posted signs (see #12 below under ‘Prohibited Areas’):
Also according to Victor, he asked management if there were any signs posted, and they informed him that there were not. They also claimed that they have no obligation to post the signs and could still ask customers to leave.
My response would have been: “What makes you think that’s a firearm? What if it’s my insulin pump? I’m going shopping now.”
Find another store, Victor. One that won’t throw you out on the street for being a law-abiding citizen.
