According to its neighbors, a T-Mobile store in the south side of Chicago has been robbed several times. Yesterday, things didn’t go as planned — for the robbers. Two perps entered the phone store, displayed handguns and demanded money. An armed clerk put paid to their plan. He drew his weapon, fired and hit both suspects multiple times. As for the store’s policy on employees carrying a gun, chicagotribune.com reports that . . .
T-Mobile corporate exercises no legal influence on local store policies regarding employees carrying firearms. That said, T-Mobile prohibits the carry of firearms in its “Supplier Code of Conduct(pdf)“:
Prohibit carrying or transporting handguns, firearms or other legally controlled or prohibited weapons of any kind that are not required for job performance on T-Mobile leased or owned property;
Maybe carrying handguns is required for job performance. Or maybe it should be.
Tadros said he hopes allowing employees to have weapons with a concealed carry license will be a deterrent.
“A lot of people think they can go out and rob people without anyone defending themselves,” Tadros said. “It’s a great thing to have to protect yourself even when you’re not in your business. If you’re out in the streets and someone is threatening your life, you can go out and protect yourself.”
I suspect that the losers of the gunfight will not be suing the store for false advertising, re: the sign on the store-front window. After this incident, perhaps store management will change the “NO CONCEALED WEAPONS’ verbiage to “LEGAL CONCEALED CARRY WELCOME”.
The management will receive many congratulatory phone calls for their enlightened policy of encouraging armed employees. The T-Mobile store is located at 2051 E 95th St, Chicago, IL 60617-4712. Their phone number is 773-902-2181. I heard a “memory is full” message when I attempted to call. Snail-mail would be worth a note.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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