Publix has quietly reversed course on open carry in Florida — asking shoppers to leave visible firearms at home months after the grocery giant allowed customers to openly tote guns in its stores following a controversial court ruling.
New signs posted at Publix entrances across Florida now read: “Publix kindly asks that only law enforcement openly carry firearms in our stores,” marking a sharp shift for the Lakeland-based supermarket chain that operates roughly 900 stores in Florida alone and another roughly 550 outside the state.
The updated policy also appears on Publix’s customer service FAQ page, where the company states: “Publix kindly asks that only law enforcement openly carry firearms in our stores.”
“Even in states with broad firearm protections, private businesses still generally have the right to set rules for conduct inside their stores,” Judge Tarlika Nunez-Navarro, a former Florida Circuit Court judge and dean at St. Thomas University College of Law, told The Post.
“So legally, Publix can ask customers not to openly carry firearms on its property, even if certain forms of firearm possession may otherwise be lawful under Florida law.”
Nunez-Navarro said the issue is “more of a private property issue than a Second Amendment issue,” adding that customers who refuse to comply after being asked to leave could potentially face trespassing consequences.
“What makes these situations legally interesting is that businesses are trying to balance two different rights at the same time — firearm rights on one hand and private property rights on the other,” she told The Post.
“Courts have long recognized that businesses can establish policies they believe are necessary for safety and operations inside their own stores.”
The move comes less than a year after Florida began allowing open carry on Sept. 25, when an appeals court struck down the state’s longstanding ban as unconstitutional.
At the time, Publix chose not to prohibit the practice, telling customers it would “follow all federal, state and local laws” while allowing store managers discretion to respond to threatening or disruptive behavior.
That decision immediately triggered backlash from some shoppers, with customers threatening boycotts and voicing concerns about armed civilians carrying weapons through crowded grocery aisles.
“Open carry in a grocery store or in a mall will frighten people,” former Sunrise commissioner Sheila Alu told the South Florida Sun Sentinel last October after learning her local Publix would allow visible firearms.
Publix’s latest reversal appears to bring the chain closer in line with competitors such as Walmart, Kroger, Target and Whole Foods — all of which discouraged or restricted open carry even after Florida’s law changed.
Walmart has asked customers to “refrain from openly carrying firearms” except for authorized law enforcement officers, while Winn-Dixie maintained a policy barring open carry inside stores.
Publix has not publicly explained what prompted the policy change. The Post has sought comment from Publix.
The reversal follows several high-profile shootings tied to Publix locations in Florida in recent years, including a gruesome triple murder-suicide inside a Royal Palm Beach supermarket in 2021.
In that incident, 55-year-old Timothy J. Wall fatally shot a 1-year-old boy and the child’s 69-year-old grandmother, Litha Varone, in the produce section before turning the gun on himself.
Authorities said Wall did not know the victims and never established a motive.
The massacre stunned Florida shoppers and later sparked a wrongful death lawsuit against Publix alleging the company failed to provide adequate security.
A Florida appeals court ultimately ruled earlier this year that Publix was not liable because the attack was unforeseeable.
Other shootings have rattled Publix stores across the state in recent years, including a fatal shooting at a Coral Gables location in 2022 and another incident in Spring Hill where a person and a dog were wounded outside a store.
In March of last year, gunfire erupted during a road-rage confrontation in a Publix parking lot in Poinciana, sending terrified shoppers scrambling for cover.
