Around New England

Ban Guns, Connecticut Senators Tell Subway

June 29, 2020

Openly carrying firearms at Subway restaurants is allowed by the company in states where open carry is legal, but two Connecticut U.S. senators say the fast-food chain shouldn’t.

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Democrats, wrote to the company urging a ban on carrying firearms in the establishment.

The company is headquartered in Milford, Connecticut. Open carry isn’t legal in Connecticut, but it is in North Carolina, and the senators were distressed to see photos showing protesters against the North Carolina governor’s state-at-home order carrying guns while inside a Subway.

The photos appeared in The New York Post on May 11, after being tweeted on May 9 by The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Connecticut senators’ letter to Subway chief executive officer John Chidsey is dated Monday, June 29 — 49 days after the photos were published by The New York Post.

The senators argue in the letter that not allowing guns at a Subway restaurant would make people safer.

“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.”

The senators said they are particularly concerned about how the coronavirus has led to “a deeply disturbing surge in gun sales.”