COSTCO Gun Policy

[Teamless]

It was my understanding that it was in the membership agreement

Even if it said "guns are not allowed" in the membership agreement, or if it was mailed out later on, it still wouldn't legally pertain to you as it wasn't in the 30.06 wording.
With respect to your membership, sure, they could void your membership.

So is their "policy" going to protect me if there is an issue when I am there, or will my weapon protect me?

If I were concerned about their wording, but felt compelled to follow it, i would walk in the front door, cancel my membership and tell them why, and never shop there again.

[3dfxMM]

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.

[wgoforth]

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.

That's what I've been saying. You sign saying you agree, then do it anyway. But also why do business with them at all, knowing their attitude when there are ample other places? As for me and my house.....

[discoqueen]

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.

When we originally signed up, we got a single sheet of paper as our copy of the membership agreement. I'm the kind of person that reads everything (yes, even user manuals for new electronics or appliances).....no where in that single sheet of paper did it mention "no guns." But we signed up years ago, so perhaps that was prior to them writing their dumb "policy". As I have stated before, I will definitely be re-thinking giving them any more of my hard earned money.

[Teamless]

I guess not many here are concerned about keeping their word unless they can get into legal trouble for not doing so.

If you walk up to the front door of a building and there stands a sign saying "no guns" and you walk past, are you breaking your word?
They have asked you to not enter with a weapon, yet you do enter with it... Why? Because its not legal.
There is nothing here that I see that has anything to do with keeping your word.
They have you sign all of those forms (or that form) so they can be 'legal' in your contract.
However, the wording they have given does not meet the legal definition, so what word are you breaking?

[MoJo]

Businesses have the right to change their minds about policy. We have the right to change our mind about doing business with them. If Costco doesn't want guns in their stores then I won't do business there. That's my policy with any anti gun business.

[Keith B]

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]

I guess not many here are concerned about keeping their word unless they can get into legal trouble for not doing so.

If you walk up to the front door of a building and there stands a sign saying "no guns" and you walk past, are you breaking your word?
They have asked you to not enter with a weapon, yet you do enter with it... Why? Because its not legal.
There is nothing here that I see that has anything to do with keeping your word.
They have you sign all of those forms (or that form) so they can be 'legal' in your contract.
However, the wording they have given does not meet the legal definition, so what word are you breaking?

To me, there is a huge difference between entering a store and joining a private club. I don't know if that difference exists in the law.

Regarding your last question, their wording that you agree to has no obligation to meet the requirements of the law that would make it illegal to enter. Those are two totally different things.

[3dfxMM]

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.

I do not know if it holds any legal weight or not, but I suspect that you continuing to keep your membership active is considered acceptance of their revised policies.

I do not see as much of a parallel as you do regarding the house analogy. You entered into a legal agreement for a specific amount. That agreement also has provisions for how that amount can be changed. They were trying to make a change that did not meet those provisions.

[The Annoyed Man]

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

This. And by the way, to the OP, THANKS A WHOLE LOT for giving me notification. I did not know this before, and I've been a Costco member for nearly 20 years. Regardless of their policy, I was unawares of it until now and could have legitimately claimed that I never received notification, and now having read the official web page, I can no longer truthfully say that I have not received it........30.06 or not.



I realize that we need, as fellow members of the CHL community, to keep one another informed about the legal pitfalls involved. But, what does it do to a legal defense if the prosecution knows that you read the Costco policy before carrying into the store?

Truthfully though, I don't give a rip. Until they post a proper 30.06 sign, I'm going to pretend that I never read this and I'm not going to let any of this deter me.

[recaffeination]

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

When? I'm a member and have never been informed of this policy.

Sure, I have heard these rumors on the internet, but there are a lot of rumors on the internet.

[steveincowtown]

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....

[Oldgringo]

I bought hearing aids last month in the Costco here in Kalispell. The audiologist lady and I talked at length about our CC's and our CHL's. There is at least one Costco employee who is not anti-gun and one Costco Warehouse that is not posted. Montana is a Gold Star OC state, btw.

The only Costco policy I'm aware of is that one must be a member in order to make a purchase. This policy does apply in the food service area. About any other Costco policies, I know nothing.

[Keith B]

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

[wgoforth]

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....

This is no "malarkey" and maybe I am taking it the wrong way, but the "tinfoil hat" comment seems to attempt to portray one as paranoid. By googling, you can readily find their policy is known.