Kroger on Tuesday asked shoppers to stop openly carrying firearms in its stores.

The company announced the policy change several hours after Walmart made the same declaration.

"Kroger is respectfully asking that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores, other than authorized law enforcement officers," a Kroger executive said in a statement.

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Kroger on Tuesday asked shoppers to stop openly carrying firearms into its stores in support of the "growing chorus of Americans" who are advocating for gun reforms.

"Kroger is respectfully asking that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores, other than authorized law enforcement officers," Jessica Adelman, Kroger's vice president of corporate affairs, said in a statement. "We are also joining those encouraging our elected leaders to pass laws that will strengthen background checks and remove weapons from those who have been found to pose a risk for violence."

Kroger, which has more than 2,700 US stores, announced the policy change several hours after Walmart made the same request.

"We know these decisions will inconvenience some of our customers, and we hope they will understand," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

Walmart also said Tuesday that it planned to end the sale of ammunition for handguns and some types of rifles, and it will stop selling handguns in Alaska, the only state where Walmart sells handguns.

Walmart made the changes in response to two deadly shootings at its stores in El Paso, Texas, and Southaven, Mississippi.

Read Kroger's full statement on the policy change: