Group renews Target gun ban effort after gun found in S.C. store

Reports of a loaded handgun found Friday at a South Carolina Target are prompting a gun control group to renew demands the retailer stop the open carrying of guns in its stores.

• Tell us: Should Target keep rifles out of its stores?

A store worker in Myrtle Beach found a handgun filled with eight bullets in the toy aisle. Police said the gun was inside a Marvel Superhero Playskool toy box. The employee thought it could have been a toy until realizing the gun was fully loaded.

The incident shows Target should ban guns, the gun control group Moms Demand Action said.

The group, which has lobbied other leading merchants to restrict guns in their stores, is pressing Target in response to gun-rights activists showing up at Target stores and other retailers with loaded rifles.

Members and associates of the gun-rights group Open Carry Texas are among the activists who've brought rifles into Target stores.

They want the Texas Legislature to make the open carrying of handguns legal. Members, however, never go anywhere they are not wanted, said spokesman Tov Henderson.

The group now has an official policy of not carrying rifles into businesses anymore, unless invited, Henderson said, adding that Target and other businesses could prohibit customers from carrying the guns if they wished.

The safety and security of employees and customers is a top priority, Minneapolis-based Target said. The company is partnering with South Carolina police to investigate the Myrtle Beach incident.