Walgreens joins Walmart and Kroger in asking customers not to openly carry firearms in stores. File Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Drug store chains CVS and Walgreens announced Thursday they're asking customers to no longer openly carry firearms in stores, less than a week after retail giant Walmart instituted a similar policy.

The decisions comes one month after a gunman walked into a West Texas Walmart location with an AK-47-style weapon and killed 22 people.


"We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials," Walgreens said.

CVS said it supports efforts to prevent gun violence.

"We join a growing chorus of businesses in requesting that our customers, other than authorized law enforcement personnel, do not bring firearms into our stores," the company said.

CVS and Walgreens are the two largest drug store chains in the United States, each with more than 9,000 locations.

Walmart announced its own policy limiting open carry Tuesday, and grocery chain Kroger made a similar announcement this week, too.

The El Paso, Texas, shooting happened Aug. 3, less than a week after another shooting at a Mississippi Walmart left two employees dead.