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Dallas Morning News
We're taking aim at high prices!
06:00 PM CDT on Monday, September 8, 2003
We're taking aim at high prices!
At the Vol Market in Knoxville, Tenn., employees are likely to be wearing a nametag, a smile – and a gun. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that the owners of the supermarket and deli like a "visual deterrent" to anybody thinking of robbing the store. So, while it's not mandatory, many employees go about their jobs with pistols in a holster on their hip.
"We're just protecting what we have worked long and hard for and protecting our customers," said co-owner Alan Frye. "We don't want to shoot anybody. But we couldn't be in this business without the pistols."
A police officer told the newspaper that gun-toting merchants are fairly common in pawnshops, but not supermarkets. Vol Market also cashes checks, which requires having lots of cash on hand. "Some customers, after they've cashed a big check, will ask us to escort them to their cars, and we are glad to do it," said co-owner Rich Nichols.
The owners said they instituted the policy in 1996, when the state began allowing people with permits to carry guns. The store has been burglarized three times since then, but never robbed. Armed employees have detained several people trying to cash stolen checks until police arrived.
Anybody carrying a gun has to take a training course that includes reminders that guns can be used only when lives are in danger. Mr. Nichols concurs, adding, "If someone wants to come in here and scuffle, we've still got baseball bats and axe handles for that."
Michael Precker
*********************************
Interesting article. The picture that ran in the paper but isnot available in the online article shows a "Bubba" looking guy in overalls packing a Glock.
They run a Pro gun piece then try to make the reader think we're all tobacco chewing rednecks by running the photo they did.
At least it was a decent bit for the front page of the Texas Living section. Just too bad it was in Tennessee.
We're taking aim at high prices!
06:00 PM CDT on Monday, September 8, 2003
We're taking aim at high prices!
At the Vol Market in Knoxville, Tenn., employees are likely to be wearing a nametag, a smile – and a gun. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that the owners of the supermarket and deli like a "visual deterrent" to anybody thinking of robbing the store. So, while it's not mandatory, many employees go about their jobs with pistols in a holster on their hip.
"We're just protecting what we have worked long and hard for and protecting our customers," said co-owner Alan Frye. "We don't want to shoot anybody. But we couldn't be in this business without the pistols."
A police officer told the newspaper that gun-toting merchants are fairly common in pawnshops, but not supermarkets. Vol Market also cashes checks, which requires having lots of cash on hand. "Some customers, after they've cashed a big check, will ask us to escort them to their cars, and we are glad to do it," said co-owner Rich Nichols.
The owners said they instituted the policy in 1996, when the state began allowing people with permits to carry guns. The store has been burglarized three times since then, but never robbed. Armed employees have detained several people trying to cash stolen checks until police arrived.
Anybody carrying a gun has to take a training course that includes reminders that guns can be used only when lives are in danger. Mr. Nichols concurs, adding, "If someone wants to come in here and scuffle, we've still got baseball bats and axe handles for that."
Michael Precker
*********************************
Interesting article. The picture that ran in the paper but isnot available in the online article shows a "Bubba" looking guy in overalls packing a Glock.
They run a Pro gun piece then try to make the reader think we're all tobacco chewing rednecks by running the photo they did.
At least it was a decent bit for the front page of the Texas Living section. Just too bad it was in Tennessee.