Publix recently revised its firearm policy in Florida stores to request that only law enforcement officers openly carry firearms while inside its locations. All others are banned from exercising this right. The change appeared through updated store signage and FAQ language on the company’s website in May 2026. Publix had previously allowed open carry after a Florida court ruling overturned the state’s open-carry ban in 2025, but the company has since reversed that position. As a private business, Publix retains the authority to set rules regarding firearms on its property.
So why did this happen? Well, some people complained. Yes, the anti-gun, boycott-brigade kicked and screamed like the insufferable crybabies they are and encouraged Publix to change its policy on open-carry, defy a state law, ignore court precedence, and violate the 2nd Amendment rights of its customers.
The attack on our 2nd Amendment is real, but it’s not necessarily based in reality. In fact, it’s never based on reality, only emotion. This is a clear example of why propaganda and cancel culture are so important to the political left. In a Country built on rights and common sense, it’s the only way Democrats can get their policies through. Manipulating the emotions of weak-minded people affords them the ability to trample on the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens.
Anti-gun propaganda can shape public perception by repeatedly associating firearms with chaos, violence, and criminal behavior, even when the vast majority of gun owners use firearms lawfully and responsibly every day. When media coverage and political messaging focus almost exclusively on rare but emotionally charged tragedies, otherwise rational people can begin to develop exaggerated fears about simply seeing a firearm in public, regardless of the context. This dynamic can now be seen in the controversy surrounding Publix grocery stores, where some customers complained about individuals legally open carrying firearms.
They didn’t complain because those individuals posed a threat, but rather years of fear-driven messaging conditioned people to equate the visible presence of a gun with immediate danger. This is a clear demonstration of how propaganda can influence emotional responses more than objective risk assessment, and it encourages some people to treat lawful behavior as inherently threatening simply because it feels unfamiliar or frightening.
Fear-based propaganda is often most effective on people who rely heavily on emotional reactions, social conformity, or authority figures rather than independent analysis of evidence and context to make decisions. Repetition of alarming messages can reduce critical thinking and encourage some individuals to accept simplified narratives without closely examining facts or probabilities. Researchers in psychology and mass communication have long observed that ‘fear-appeals’ are especially persuasive when audiences feel uncertain, anxious, or socially pressured, making them more likely to adopt group opinions instead of forming conclusions through careful reasoning.
There are several peer-reviewed psychological studies showing that fear-based propaganda and emotionally charged persuasion tend to be more effective on people with lower analytical reasoning ability, higher authoritarian tendencies, lower tolerance for ambiguity, or reduced critical-thinking engagement. They often use terms such as low cognitive ability, low need for cognition, high authoritarianism, or susceptibility to emotional persuasion.
One of the strongest findings comes from a large-scale study by psychologists Gordon Hodson and Michael Busseri. USING DATA FROM MORE THAN 15,000 PARTICIPANTS, THEY FOUND THAT LOWER COGNITIVE ABILITY PREDICTED HIGHER LEVELS OF PREJUDICE AND STRONGER ATTRACTION TO AUTHORITARIAN IDEOLOGIES, WHICH ARE OFTEN HEAVILY DRIVEN BY FEAR-BASED POLITICAL MESSAGING. Anti-gun fear-mongers and their lapdog lobby groups like Moms Demand Action, Everytown for Gun Safety and The Giffords group have been capitalizing on these psychological manipulation tools for decades. Just take a look at their social media posts and you will quickly recognize their strategies.
Another major meta-analysis involving more than 27,000 participants found that fear appeals consistently influence attitudes and behavior, especially when messages emphasize danger, vulnerability, and emotional urgency.
Research on extremist thinking also found that people with more rigid ideological views often struggle more with complex cognitive tasks and tend to process information in more black-and-white ways, making simplistic propaganda narratives more persuasive. In the case of Publix’s open carry policy… “guns scary. Must not see them.”
We shouldn’t be surprised when we see the political left act out irrationally when they are “triggered” by the propaganda that their preferred media outlets serve them daily because that is and has been precisely the plan all along. Congressional Democrats and liberal media outlets are quite aware that although they appear to placate to their liberal voters, the real intent is to manipulate them and get them to support the causes and policies Democrats need and to keep them in office. With respect to firearms and the 2nd Amendment, they have been successful to a certain extent, but the 2nd Amendment always seems to defeat them in the end…and they hate that.
Will the new Publix ban on open-carry stick? Likely not, due to the stores being located in a relatively, gun-friendly State, but we will see if Florida gun owners decide to push back on this latest ‘woke-pandering’ policy.
The 2nd Amendment is not a privilege. It’s your right.
Dan Wos
Author – Good Gun Bad Guy
Host – The Loaded Mic
Dan Wos is a National 2nd Amendment advocate, Spokesman for Gun Owners of America and Author of the “Good Gun Bad Guy” – book series. He is a contributing writer for AmmoLand News, OpsLens, Daily Caller, News2A, Bearing Arms, and several other publications. Dan can be found on radio stations across the Country speaking on the topics of gun-rights, firearm legislation and exposing the strategies of the anti-gun crowd. Dan is also the Host of “The Loaded Mic” and has been a guest on Newsmax, the Sean Hannity Show, Spirit Campfire with Ted Nugent, OAN, Real America’s Voice, and many others. For more information contact PR HERE
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