Oregon members of the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America are asking Fred Meyer to stop allowing customers to openly carry guns in its stores.

Twelve moms delivered copies of the Moms Demand Action petition bearing more than 18,000 signatures to Fred Meyer headquarters in Southeast Portland on Tuesday morning, said Taylor Maxwell, who is handling publicity for the group. The company received signatures only from the states where Fred Meyer operates, Maxwell said.

Anneliese Davis of Portland, a volunteer with the Oregon chapter of Moms Demand Action, said the group has three main goals: to raise public awareness about what she called "lax gun laws," to change gun policies at businesses where families shop, and to help business owners realize that they can ban guns from their premises.

"If I owned a business, I would want to protect my employees by making it clear that you can't openly carry" guns in the store, Davis said.

Davis added that she supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms. "I come from a gun-owning, hunting family ... my husband is a veteran," she said. "I can't find a single (family member) who feels the need to take a rifle with them when they go to the grocery store."

Melinda Merrill, a spokeswoman for Fred Meyer who received the petition and signatures, said Tuesday, "Our policy is that we follow local laws. So if it's allowed in the municipality where our store is, then we follow the local law."

Regarding the Moms Demand Action petition, Merrill said, "We're listening. We're hearing what this group is saying."

Incidents involving guns in Fred Meyer stores are rare, Merrill said.

In 2012, Jerry Harryman, a customer at the Clackamas Fred Meyer, pulled a .380 semiautomatic pistol during a physical confrontation with another customer, William Young, and shot him in the leg. Harryman, who had a license to carry a concealed weapon, was convicted of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

Moms Demand Action is in the second day of a "12 Days of Kroger" campaign, during which it will contact a different Kroger-owned grocery chain every weekday for 12 weekdays, according to the group's Facebook page. Cincinnati-based Kroger operates dozens of stores in Oregon, including 53 under the Fred Meyer brand and a half-dozen QFC stores.

National retailers Panera Bread, Starbucks and Target have asked customers not to bring guns into their stores. Locally, New Seasons Market has a policy that asks employees and customers to not bring in any weapons.

--Amy Wang