Andy Puzder: Walmart should add security to its stores if it's going to ban open carry
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder defended Walmart's decision to ban customers from carrying firearms in their stores, but suggested they hire additional security to protect their customers.
"It's a capitalist country, they have the right to do it," Puzder said Thursday on "America's Newsroom." "If I ran Walmart I might think about putting in more security if I'm telling people they can't come in with guns to protect themselves... But I'm not running Wal-Mart, but I am sympathetic to the CEO who realizes that some of his customers were shot in his stores. That cuts to your heart."
Walmart also banned the sale of handguns in Alaska and stopped the sale of short-barrel rifle ammo in all of their stores, drawing public backlash from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Puzder claimed Walmart is trying to play to their millennial shoppers in an effort to be representative of their future customer base.
"CEOs would enact a policy like this because it's what they believe their consumers want," he said earlier in the interview. "Everybody said they're backing away from representing shareholders' interests. I don't think that's true."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There are these social policies -- these social justice things that are important to millennials and they're going to go to companies that focus on those things," Puzder added. "So if you thought your customers wanted an environment where there weren't guns, then you would enact a policy that met your customer's needs. That's how you grow your business and satisfy your shareholders."
He said more companies will likely follow Walmart's lead but also remain vigilant in monitoring the customer response, before making any permanent changes.
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"They could [follow Walmart] for one of those two reasons. Either they feel like they need to do this because it's the right policy... or they feel like their customers want it," Puzder said.
"Companies like Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart are going to find out how their customers react. If people start going [elsewhere] they're going to lose business and I think they'll probably end up rethinking the policy. But for right now... these are free-market companies. They have every right to make these decisions."
Fox News Stephen Sorace contributed to this report