On Anniversary of Buffalo Supermarket Shooting, Guns Down America Releases New Data on Gun Violence at Grocery Stores and asks Supermarket Retailers to Take Action
May 15, 2023
Grocery Chains Walmart, Kroger and Food Lion Top the List Among Major Retailers for Number of Gun Violence Incidents
WASHINGTON, DC – Following the one year anniversary of the mass shooting in Buffalo at a Tops grocery store, Guns Down America released new data showing that there have been 159 gun violence incidents and 42 deaths at the nation’s largest grocery retailers since that time.
“If one thing has been clear in the year since the tragic Buffalo shooting, it is that all of us including major grocery retailers, must do our part to help build a future with fewer guns,” said Shannon Grady, interim executive director of Guns Down America. “It is long past time for major grocery retailers to invest in community violence intervention programs and use their voice to make the case directly to Congress that it must act and stop contributing to lawmakers supported by the NRA.”
The numbers are based on an analysis of Gun Violence Archive data.
Following the Buffalo grocery store shooting, Guns Down America sent letters to the leadership of a dozen major grocery retailers sharing details about gun violence incidents in their stores and asking them to do everything they can to protect the customers, employees, and the communities they serve each and every day. Specifically:
- Invest in the communities they serve and support by funding evidence-based community violence intervention programs and gun buybacks to help get guns off the street.
- Stop making political contributions to lawmakers who receive donations from the NRA, as these officials are putting us all in harm by refusing to even consider legislation that would make firearms harder to get.
- Use their D.C. clout and leverage to lobby lawmakers to pass stronger gun laws by making a business case for gun violence prevention.
Guns Down America has a successful track record of pushing companies to do better on gun violence when Congress will not. It led a successful campaign to stop Walmart from selling guns after the El Paso shooting at a Walmart store and before that, took on the NRA's "murder insurance" program.