Target Corp.  said it would "respectfully" ask customers to not bring guns into its stores, "even in communities where it is permitted by law."

The retailer was pushed into the national debate after Texas gun-rights groups posted photographs of their members carrying rifles through the aisles of stores near Dallas, said the Wall Street Journal.

In response to that, a second group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a gun-control organization funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, launched a campaign to pressure the retailer to forbid the open carry of guns. The group's founder, Shannon Watts, led an online and social-media campaign to boycott Target, said the Wall Street Journal.

Target's interim CEO, John Mulligan, in a memo posted on the retailer’s website, said: "This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create."