The fast food chain Chipotle is asking customers not to bring firearms into its stores after it says gun rights advocates carried military-style assault rifles in one of its restaurants in Texas.  The Mexican food chain said "the display of firearms in our restaurants has now created an environment that is potentially intimidating or uncomfortable for many of our customers".  The announcement came after a petition by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which has called on other companies to ban firearms in their stores as well. The group said its petition was in reaction to "open-carry" gun activists appearing at a Dallas-area Chipotle restaurant over the weekend.  Many US states allow people to carry licensed guns in some way but some businesses exercise their right to ban firearms.  Last year Starbucks told customers that guns were no longer welcome in its cafes after it had to temporarily close a store in Newtown, Connecticut, to avoid a demonstration by gun rights advocates. The company said it shut down the store out of respect for the community where 20 schoolchildren and six educators were shot and killed.  The coffee chain stopped short of a ban, saying it did not want to put its workers in the position of having to ask people carrying guns to leave its stores.  A Chipotle spokesman did not immediately respond when asked whether the company's request was an outright ban, or how it would respond if people continued to bring in firearms.  Chipotle noted in its statement that "there are strong arguments on both sides of this issue". It said it hoped that customers who opposed carrying guns in public would agree that "it is the role of elected officials and the legislative process to set policy in this area".  The gun control group Everytown, backed by the former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, launched a #BurritosNotBullets campaign on Twitter after pictures emerged of guns being carried in Chipotle. It celebrated the chain's decision with a tweet on Monday:
Fast food chain says it has brought in policy after military assault rifles were carried openly in Texas restaurant