NEW YORK (AP) – Drug chains CVS and Walgreens as well as grocery chain Wegmans Food Market have joined the chorus of retailers requesting that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in their stores even where state laws allow it.

There’s nothing more important than the safety of our customers & employees. The sight of someone with a gun can be alarming, and we don’t want anyone to feel that way at Wegmans. For this reason, we prefer that customers not openly carry firearms into our stores.

— Wegmans Food Markets (@Wegmans) September 5, 2019

@MomsDemand @shannonrwatts thank you for your advocacy on this important issue. Please see the statement we posted this morning: https://t.co/c5FvidR0dr

— Walgreens News (@WalgreensNews) September 5, 2019

CVS Health Updates Firearms in Stores Policy pic.twitter.com/0ODx6ewJNX

— CVS Health (@CVSHealth) September 5, 2019

The announcements made Thursday follow similar moves by Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, as well as Kroger earlier this week. Starbucks and Target have already asked customers not to openly carry guns unless they’re law enforcement officers. The retailers stopped short of introducing an outright ban because they say they don’t want to put their employees in confrontational situations.

The moves come after a string of mass shootings, including one last month inside a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, which killed 22 customers, the deadliest in the company’s history.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.  PHOTO:Wegmans/Twitter