Walmart takes 'step in the right direction' by limiting ammunition sales, says employee

The world's biggest retailer is changing its position on guns. 

On Tuesday, Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon announced the company's U.S. operations will stop selling certain types of ammunition. And openly armed people will no longer be welcome in their stores. 

The decision follows shootings in Walmart stores in Texas and Mississippi that left a total of 24 people dead. 

It was the Texas shooting that prompted Thomas Marshall to launch a petition calling for his employer to do more to stop gun violence. Marshall is a category specialist at Walmart's e-commerce facility in San Bruno, Calif.

As It Happens host Carol Off spoke to Marshall about the decision. Here is part of their conversation.

Mr. Marshall, did you ever expect that your petition would have such an effect on a corporation the size of Walmart?

When we started the petition, we hoped that it would. They, from the very beginning, said that they take into consideration the opinions and the thoughts and ideas of every associate, no matter which level.

So we always had hope. But the fact that this really happened in such a quick timeframe and that the changes have been so monumental is just a testament to the fact that this is the company that we really believed we were working for and that we hoped they would be able to change.

We're very glad that we are moving in the right direction.

So the decision is that they will discontinue the sale of rifle ammunition that can be used in the military-style weapons, handgun ammunition, they'll discontinue handguns sales themselves in Alaska — the last place where they sell them. But they will continue to sell other kinds of ammunition, right?

Correct. We understand that the position of Walmart has very deep ties from the very beginning to America's long tradition of, you know, the Second Amendment right to carry arms for protection and hunting.

And so even though our petition, what we were calling for, was far more comprehensive, we do very much understand the position that Walmart is in, especially with a lot of their base. And especially with the lineage dating back to Sam Walton actually being an avid hunter.

So even though this is a step behind where we would hopefully be at some point, this is still a wonderful step in that right direction and we very much understand Walmart's position that they are currently taking.

You say that they have banned open carry in their stores. But in the letter Mr. McMillon is saying we are "respectfully requesting" that customers no longer openly carry and that they will post the signs to that effect. How effective do you think that will be?

I hope that will be effective. There's no way to to ban that in stores in terms of physically implementing that unless they have metal detectors or security.

But having those signs up and being very clear about that will help them actually be able to identify anyone walking in openly with a firearm to hopefully be able to de-escalate any possible situation before anyone enters the store.

But they're citing that there are people who have already walked into the store openly carrying their weapon in order just to challenge the staff, and you say in your letter how intimidating this has been.

Hopefully, that will help curb that behaviour. The fact that customers were not feeling safe inside of our stores, that is a heartbreaking thing for anyone to go through.

The ideal is to make it a very safe place, to make a place where people feel comfortable, and hopefully this will help alleviate some of those concerns and really curb that behaviour of certain individuals that are trying to make a stand one way or another.

Do you think that Mr. McMillon is doing this because he thinks it's the right thing to do or just he recognizes it is bad for business?

I have no doubt that this will impact business very much and I'm sure that was one of the reasons why this took a considerable amount of time to really consider and take action on.

However, I do believe and I have every hope that this was done out of good faith, in the best intentions and with pure intentions, from a man that I know we hopefully can rely on as a leader for this company.

This is an incredibly unique and important thing that the largest retailer in the world and one of the largest firearm retailers in the country is taking a very defiant and very concrete stance on where they choose to see themselves in the larger history of this country and our country's history with gun violence.

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But what does it tell you that it took the deaths of 24 people in its stores before it made that decision?

I mean it's heartbreaking that we still have to have these conversations. But really, any step in the right direction is a good one.

We hope that this honours the people who can't speak out against gun violence anymore because they were tragically killed in these acts of mass homicide.

And so we really hope that this brings some amount of healing, as well, to the communities that are affected, especially surrounding our stores in the country.

Written by Morgan Passi and John McGill. Interview produced by Morgan Passi. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.