Connecticut senators call for Subway to ban open carry of firearms

Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Democrats, on Monday called on Subway CEO John Chidsey to ban the open carry of firearms in all Subway restaurants in the U.S.

The senators wrote a letter to Chidsey, pointing to photographs of armed demonstrators protesting stay-at-home restrictions in a Raleigh, N.C., Subway restaurant in May. Subway is headquartered in Milford, Conn.

“No person should have to fear gun violence while visiting or working in Subway restaurants,” the senators wrote. “Photographs of these demonstrators published by the News & Observer are as striking as they are intimidating, and, regrettably, reflect more than this one incident.” 

They said that at least 65 incidents of gun violence have taken place in or around a Subway since 2014 and that Chipotle, Sonic, Chili’s, Target, Walmart, Panera Bread, Whole Foods, Starbucks, Aldi, CVS, and Walgreens have taken action to prohibit firearms.

“The public health challenges that we face, as a nation, due to this global pandemic are great, but neither excuse nor absolve us of our obligation to respond to the related and mounting public safety crisis—posed by the tremendous proliferation of firearms sales—in the making,” they wrote.

There has been a reported increase in gun sales since the coronavirus and the FBI conducted nearly 3 million gun background checks in April, which is one of the highest monthly totals ever.

Subway has not yet responded to the senators’ letter.