Meijer becomes Ohio's last retailer to impose firearms limits on its big-box stores

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Meijer hypermarkets have asked their customers that their customers no longer open guns in their hypermarkets.

The family business posted the request Monday on the official Twitter account of the company.

"The safety of our customers and our team members is our top priority. We therefore respectfully ask our customers not to open their firearms at Meijer, "reads the tweet. "We made this decision because open carry can create an environment in which our customers and team members do not feel safe."

The company opened three stores in northeastern Ohio earlier this year in Avon, Mentor, and Stow. Ohio does not have a specific law prohibiting open carriage, but there are exceptions allowing employers and private companies to ban firearms on their premises.

Twitter users who say they shop at the store have reacted in a mixed way to this announcement. Some said they believed they had the right to carry a gun in their hands, while others thanked the hypermarket for thinking about the safety of their customers and their employees. For others, it did not seem to matter.

Meijer is not the only big retailer to lobby for this. Walmart, Aldi and Kroger also do not allow customers to transport openly. Walmart's announcement comes after a massive August shootout at one of its stores in El Paso, Texas, leaving 22 dead and two injured.

Walmart also announced that it would no longer sell ammunition for handguns and rifles. Meijer has not indicated whether it would put in place any restrictions on the sale of firearms or ammunition. Calls to the company's representatives on Wednesday were not immediately returned.