Many businesses have signs posted on their doors telling people that guns are not allowed in their stores. If you were to use your gun in the store to protect a employee or a fellow shopper, could the store bring charges against you for violating their policy ?
Generally speaking - and I’m not a lawyer - the signs give the store the right to ask you to leave, and you have to comply. A store might be able to bring a civil suit. Only the state can “charge” you since that typically involves committing a crime.
I just avoid those places. The only places I visit where guns are not allowed are doctors’ offices.
10 Likes
Not a lawyer either, but my understanding in my home state of Alabama is the signs mean they will ask you to leave and if you do not they can call law enforcement and you face possible trespass charges. Beyond that I’m willing to risk any possible charges coming from self defense use since the alternative is likely death. My firearm stays put unless there is absolutely no other option. Here in 'bama I would expect a jury finding m eat fault would be unlikely.
5 Likes
Be careful with this one. Some states give those signs the force of law. If you enter with a weapon and it is discovered, you HAVE violated the law. In others they do NOT have that force and you may be asked to leave, and not doing so would then be the violation. This information is under the Key State Laws, presumably for each state. This is what is says for KY:
This one if from D.C.:
5 Likes
In some states a no gun sign has the force of law, meaning of you bring a gun in you have committed a crime. In others they have no standing other than the store can ask you to leave and if you refuse they can trespass you.
Alabama signs do not have any standing under the law, and the highest percentage of concealed carriers.
3 Likes
Understood, which is why I stated “in my home state of Alabama”.
3 Likes
Stay safe and shop somewhere else.
8 Likes
Kinda tough to do when it’s one of your favorite grocery chains. I pocket carry a 380 and will continue to carry. Leaving the gun in my car to go shopping is NOT an option. If I have to go to the post office or the hospital, I make that’s a separate trip and leave my gun at home. I know it’s not the wisest thing to do, but I don’t want to leave my gun in the car and have the car stolen.
3 Likes
If a business has a sign, “NO GUNS” it is like a do not resuscitate sign. I went to a store that sold tactical gear and other things and on the door was NO GUNS. It seemed to me to be like an candy store and having a sign DONT EAT CANDY!
6 Likes
I apologize @William220. I was adding to your statement not trying to correct. I use Alabama alot cause it tickles the â– â– â– â– out of me that , last I looked Al. Has the highest percentage per capita of concealed carriers in the nation. Somewhere around 23%.
3 Likes
Do you shop at Costco? Your membership T&C clearly state you can’t carry in store.
1 Like
I believe here in SC it is force of law and we are gun friendly. If you get caught carrying (and reported) it is a crime.
If the property is not posted or is posted in properly they can ask you to leave.
Texas law requires a specific sign just like it appears in the law. Anytime a business tells you to leave if they see you have a gun you just leave. If they call police the police tell you you have to leave. The punishment is a misdemeanor. Now if the legal sign is posted you could be in serious trouble. But in Texas there is no law against carrying any knife that I’m aware of including machetes or even swords. I started carrying a knife too.
3 Likes
Private store owners may be politically anti-gun, or suspicious of customers’ judgment or training, or hoping to minimize risks of liability – or all three. If you carry, you can avoid conflict by carrying absolutely concealed, and by deciding ahead of time not to pull on the premises. This isn’t legal advice, this is common sense.
2 Likes
Nothing says you have to pull. If it’s an absolute life saving move you just need to know what’s at stake.
2 Likes
Illinois has created a specific sign to be used by establishments desiring to preclude CCW.
https://www.ispfsb.com/Public/Signage.aspx
1 Like
Why go there? Why go to a place that doesn’t support your values?
Are there no other stores that offer that good or service?
1 Like
I wish everybody here would stop being a street lawyer!!! You should not even have gotten past the sign without expecting trouble for yourself. Know your laws and have a copy of them. If there is a question contact your local state attorneys office and request an answer to your question IN WRITING (they will not always do this). If they will not put it in writing, Contact a 2A attorney, not just any attorney. You want a Pro2A defense attorney, not real estate, slip and fall, or other attorney. With these type of questions, a wrong interpretation could land you in jail. In some states, the sign has the power of toilet paper. In other states, violating these signs is a specific firearms related CRIME. In other states it constitutes a trespass after warning violation (the sign was your warning). You pass the sign you commited a CRIME.
Some states have specific guidelines as to the size , height of the lettering, where and how it must be posted and other information that must be contained in the sign. DONT PRESS YOUR LUCK IF YOU KNOW THE SIGN IS IMPROPERLY POSTED. YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU THINK THAT LOOP HOLE WILL ALWAYS HELP YOU WITH THE POLICE OR IN COURT! Ask any attorney, there is the letter of the law (what is correct) and there is the spirit of the law (how someone else like the police or a judge will interpret it’s intent. If you stand on ceremony you might lose big time (your gun, your freedom and the possibility to ever own a gun again). It is your right not to visit these places (no gun owner likes these signs/ criminal free zones). DO NOT MAKE ALL FIREARMS OWNERS LOOK BAD BECAUSE YOU YOU YOU WANT TO TRY YOUR LUCK AND DISREGARD THESE SIGNS!!!
2 Likes
3 Likes
Liked your post Cliff. Your note got me thinking what’s been obvious to others. A light just went off in my head:
If a business places that sign up, to me, what they think they are accomplishing is preventing an accidental firearm injury or fatality. I guess I’m curious why they put them up in the first place. The signs affect legal gun carriers (who have passed certain background checks).
Hospitals, and day care centers, may have that fear of accidents, as they have children there as well as general public of which some might be volatile and psychologically unstable. Or they fear that a legal firearm carrying individual could decide to become a criminal and seek to harm. But, if someone disturbed is intent on one day harming someone with a gun, that sign does not stop them.
I guess I struggle with understanding why some stores prohibit carrying. Perhaps it’s fear of an accident. I think if a criminal or very unstable individual wants to use a firearm to rob, or take a life, the sign does not deter.
I might look for more threads because I’m veering off topic, but I’m thinking about why in some public transit venues, government buildings, and parks, “carrying” is not legal. Because of mass of persons in one small area, because tempers can flare when in so much contact?
Do you all think stores put them up, thinking that will help protect them from being robbed?
Apologies for going off topic. Great string and posts. 
1 Like