Levi’s Tells Customers: Leave Your Guns at Home

NEW YORK, United States — Levi Strauss & Co., that sartorial emblem of America, its mythologised West and the gun-toting cowboys who swaggered there, would like you to keep your firearms out of its stores. Even in states where it's legal, the company's chief executive told its shoppers Wednesday.

Levi's CEO Chip Bergh expressed concerns over maintaining a safe shopping environment at its hundreds of stores across America in a note published on LinkedIn. The 163-year-old denim brand is not banning guns from its premises outright, because "trying to enforce a ban could potentially undermine the purpose of the ban itself: safety."

"It boils down to this: you shouldn’t have to be concerned about your safety while shopping for clothes or trying on a pair of jeans," he wrote. "Simply put, firearms don't belong in either of those settings."

Bergh wrote that he's thought more about in-store safety than ever because of the violent attacks in Paris, Nice, and Orlando that occurred over the past year and inflicted mass civilian casualties. He also cited a recent incident in which a customer's gun inadvertently fired inside a Levi's store in Commerce, Ga. Firearms cause an "unsettling environment" when brought into stores, he wrote, expressing his hope that gun owners will abide by its request.

"In the end, I believe we have an obligation to our employees and customers to ensure a safe environment and keeping firearms out of our stores and offices will get us one step closer to achieving that reality," wrote Bergh.

By Kim Bhasin; editor: David Rovella.

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