Please leave guns at home, says Levi’s
Even if you might eventually tuck your handgun into to your jeans, Levi’s would prefer that while you’re shopping for your denim, you leave your gun at home.
In a letter to customers on LinkedIn, Levi Strauss President and CEO Chip Bergh said that people should not bring their guns into Levi’s stores or offices.
“We respectfully ask people not to bring firearms into our stores, offices or facilities, even in states where it’s permitted by law,” said Bergh in the letter.
Bergh is not some anti-gun guy. He stated that, as a former army officer, father and business leader he has heard and understands the arguments from all sides. As the CEO of a 163-year-old company with a presence in 110 countries around the world, he felt “tremendous responsibility” to share the position of Levi’s on the issue at “a time when clarity is paramount.”
A top priority for the San Francisco-based company said that safety and security of its employees and customers is more important than people being allowed to carry guns into their facilities. Bergh noted that the company had an incident at one of its stores where a gun inadvertently went off, injuring the customer who was carrying it.
“With stores in Paris, Nice and Orlando, and the company’s European headquarters in Brussels, I’ve thought more about safety in the past year than in the previous three decades of my career because of how ‘close to home’ so many incidents with guns have come to impacting people working for this company,” continued Bergh, who also said that the presence of firearms in stores can create unsettling environments for people on both sides of the register and that people shouldn’t have to worry about their safety when shopping for clothes.
Bergh did state that not carrying a gun is a “request not a mandate” and hopes that responsible gun owners will respect the company’s position.
A story in USA Today noted that restaurants like Chipotle, Whataburger, Panera Bread and Starbucks have all asked diners not to carry their weapons in the open at their places of business.