TexasCHLforum.com

Jasonw560 wrote:Found out that Costco's co founder, Jim Sinegal, is an Obama fund raiser.

No shopping there for me.

Hmm, I guess he didn't build Costco himself, someone else did it for him.

Right2Carry wrote:Unless I missed it somewhere in this thread, I don't see one shred of evidence of a written policy prohibiting members from carrying legally owned guns. Has anyone provided a written document from COSTCO that actually states that guns are forbidden? I was at COSTCO the other day and the only sign was the typical unlicensed handgun sign that most places post which has no legal bearing on CHL holders. Until someone can actually produce a membership agreement that states no guns I believe this to be nothing more than a rumor.

The link in the original post https://costco.egain.net/system/selfser ... ticle=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
appears to be a response from the Customer Service company site for Costco and they are responding to a quesiton. That would not legally be notification in Texas.

I think the issue is if you search any large company (and even some small ones) you will find someone in the decision making chain that is anti-gun. Wal Mart, K-Mart, Sam's, Costco, or probably even Academy, and maybe even Cabela's and Bass Pro. Even though they may sell guns or gun related items at a all of these, someone in the management chain probably wishes they didn't.

As I mentioned earlier, the link to this appears to be a contracted Customer Service company for Costco that may handle external communications on the web or other types of customer relations. Whether the top dogs at Costco Corporate feel this way or not, someone in the customer relations side put this policy together, ran it by legal and it now represents their position on guns. I am sure that some of it was driven by the Erik Scott case, but they will never elude to that fact, they just say they don't want guns in the stores. However, it is not written into the policy, membership app or other material you receive, so if you are not aware of it, then there is nothing legally stopping you from carrying if the store is not posted in a legal manner.

Bottom line, you can choose to ignore their view, carry away and get what you want for a better price. Or, you can choose to not do business with them or any other store that has made public that they don't like guns, and find your items somewhere else; it's a personal decision that only YOU can make.

dac1842 wrote:Well here is another angle. I did not read every post here so forgive me if this was raised already. While COSTCO might not have the proper signage up at their locations, would not your acceptance of the terms of membership constitute effective notice? It seems to me, and I am not a lawyer, your acceptance of the membership terms would be enough to prosecute. Charles?

Go back and read the entire thread. This has already been discussed that there is nothing in the agreement you sign stating or membership terms about no guns.

And, in Texas, the only way you would be illegally carrying is if the notice about no firearms was in the same text as 30.06 in the agreement you read and agree to. Anything else written in the agreement would not constitute legal notification.

testersbc wrote:just in cas you didn't know. A COSTCO employee got one of veterans killed there because he was carrying a concealed firearm.

Yep, there's currently 58 pages of discussion on the shooting of Erik Scott here http://texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=36107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I removed your link to the Las Vegas paper. We don't allow links to any Las Vegas media outlets on the forum.

RottenApple wrote:Except that I can't find a link to that site anywhere from the member's section of Costco's website. I've hunted everywhere for it and it's just not there. As near as I can tell, there is NO firearms policy (pro or anti) in any of the Membership Terms & Conditions.

As for that website, what makes you think it's legitimate? The fact that "costco" was in the URL? I can create a website and put "keithb" in the URL but that doesn't mean it's yours. http://keithb.whatever.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I also did a Whois lookup on that site:

Registrant:
eGain Communications Corp
1252 Borregas Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
US

Domain Name: EGAIN.NET

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Shah, Rakesh rshah@egain.com
1252 Borregas Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
US
408-6364461 fax: 408-6364400

Unfortunately that doesn't prove or disprove a legitimate Costco connection. eGain Comm. Corp's main website is http://www.egain.com/. It does appear that they provide KB services, but Costco isn't listed on their customer page and, I keep going back to this, there is no link (that I can find) from Costco's website to this one.

At this point, after searching Costco's website and reading through their Terms & Conditions, I'm calling bull on the Costco "no guns" policy until and unless someone can show me otherwise.

A link to eGain IS on their website. See this page http://shop.costco.com/customer-service/contact-us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, then look at the link for Costco Member Questions: Member Questions & Comments

One thing to consider is the site this is posted on appears to be different from their main site. It looks to me to possibly be a contracted 'customer service' company that handles their inquiries, etc. There is the chance this was written by someone that it is their view and not that of the overall company. However, I would think that a question like this should have been taken to a legal Representative of Costco for their official answer, or at least ran by them for approval before posting the answer. No matter who it came from, they are speaking for the company, so that now IMO reflects the mindset of the business and while I don't have a Costco card, I for sure now will never get one.

WildBill wrote:This is a coincidence. I was in the lobby at work today and there was a small poster on the wall announcing that COSTCO would be visiting this Friday to sign up new members. BTW, I am not going to sign up.

Not even for 5 gallon drums of ketchup?

Even though you may not sign up, maybe you can get a copy of their membership agreement they have folks sign and give it the once-over to see if it has anyting in there about no firearms.

Embalmo wrote:

alphonso wrote:This man certainly had a bad experience (fatal) from carrying a legal gun at Costco...

http://pjmedia.com/blog/gunned-down-in- ... rik-scott/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Those police officers deserve to be in jail for man slaughter, but why did they that guy stay after he was told to leave? I suppose the guy was thinking, "I guess I told him." "When the police come they're gonna' tell the manager to stop harassing concealed license carriers." The best that guy could have hoped for would be being arrested for trespassing.

Embalmo

There's currently 58 pages of discussion on the shooting of Erik Scott here http://texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=36107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

steveincowtown wrote:I may quickly be proved incorrect, but I am going to have to call....uh.....well...."malarkey" on this one.

Link is ".net" and has some sort of weird extension on it.

https://costco.egain.net/system/selfser ... ticle=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I went to the Costco site and can't get back around to where is this info is.



Anyhow, I am off to buy a new tinfoil hat....

It's a valid link. You can get to their Questionaire at https://costco.egain.net/system/web/cus ... lPage.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and the link is on this page http://shop.costco.com/customer-service/contact-us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; under Costco Member Questions: Member Questions & Comments

3dfxMM wrote:This isn't about the legality. It is about their policy which the member agreed to in writing. I guess not many here are concerned about keeping their word unless they can get into legal trouble for not doing so.

It was said this is not in their policy when you sign the membership agreement. So, I would have never agreed to something like that and not carry. And, until they send me something that I must sign and send back stating I agree to it, then i don't take their updates. I look at is as being 'Grandfathered' under my old agreement.

A good example is when I bought my house, we were told the HOA dues were X-amount and I signed the agreement for that. About a month later we received a letter from the HOA management company telling us the dues were 3.5 times what we had agreed to. I contacted the company and stated I would be paying the amount I agreed to and that they could raise the amounts by the percentage annually per the agreement I signed, as their legal representative (the neighborhood sales agent) was the one that put the numbers down. They threatened me with a lawsuit, and I told them to contact their lawyer and have him call me. Within about 20 minutes they called back in a really nice tone wanting to know 'what we could work out' and I told them they would have to stick to the agreement or buy my house back. Needless to say, we are Grandfathered under our agreement until such time as the house is sold.

3dfxMM wrote:You all missed the point. We weren't talking about the legality of carrying at Costco. Just their right to not allow it by policy and whether or not there is a moral imperative to honor the agreement that was made. There is no indication that Costco is attemting to make it illegal. They have a legitimate policy against carrying there and if they discover that you are they will terminate your membership. There is no need for signs because all interested parties have been informed of the policy. Th

No moral obligation IMO if they don't provide this data up front when I sign the membership form. They can change their policy all they want, and even say they don't want middle-aged overweight balding white guys to shop there. Since I didn't sign the membership agreement knowing that, then until they make me sign one that says I am not allowed, I will still shop there if I so choose.

I am not a member of Costco anyway, so it doesn't affect me. And I will tell you I don't read the stuff that Sam's sends, so until I am 'officially' notified, I don't abide by some companies ever-chancing policies.

3dfxMM wrote:

Btw no proper sign at the Costco near me. No signs at all at the Costco where Erik Scott was murdered.

Why would they need signs? All the members have already been informed of the policy.

30.06 signs or notification in writing in in the form of 30.06 are the legal methods for Texas. This is not a legal 30.06 notification, so you could not be prosecuted for carrying there. The most they could legally do is terminate your membership, ask you to leave and have you arrested for trespassing if you refused or came back.

EDIT TO ADD: wgoforth beat me to it