A loaded handgun was discovered last Friday in a Target toy aisle as Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is urging the retailer to ban firearms from stores.
An employee at a Myrtle Beach, North Carolina store stumbled upon the loaded 9-mm handgun laying on top of a toy box in an aisle, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Authorities are trying to find the owner of the gun since it has not been reported stolen.
The gun found in a store gives MDAGSA ammo since the group began a petition just as the news originally broke, which likely helped them snag more than 10,000 signatures already.
A spokeswoman for the group, Erika Soto Lamb, said, "Target is an important place for moms to go with their kids. If she sees someone walking down the aisle with a gun, it's impossible for her to know if they are the good guys or the bad guys."
Some shoppers suggested to WMBF that perhaps the handgun was deliberately left in the toy aisle for some kid to find. "I don't think someone would accidentally drop off a gun. I think he purposely left it there for a child to pick it up and ... accidentally point it at somebody and it goes off," Kennedy McClain noted.
With open carry demonstrations occurring, several restaurants have already stepped forward to ask people no longer bring guns inside. Chili's and Sonic, along with Starbucks, have announced they will no longer allow firearms inside since they can make others uncomfortable.