Levi's CEO Urges Customers, Employees To Not Bring Guns In Store

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The CEO of Levi's has a message for customers of the company's stores as well as gun owners.

Chip Bergh wrote an open letter on Wednesday, urging customers and employees to not bring guns into their stores, even if it is legal in the state where the store is located. The letter was posted on LinkedIn on Wednesday.

"The debate in the U.S. over gun safety and gun rights is as complex as it is divisive. As a former army officer, a father and business leader, I've heard the arguments from all sides," Bergh wrote.

Bergh stated that he wanted to stress the position of the company to provide a safe environment for everyone in their stores and he cited a recent incident where a customer was injured after their gun inadvertently went off.

"With stores in Paris, Nice and Orlando, and the company's European headquarters in Brussels, I've thought more about safety in the past year than in the previous three decades of my career because of how 'close to home' so many incidents with guns have come to impacting people working for this company," Bergh went on to write.

Nearly One Million Android Phones Infected By Hackers

He admitted that enforcement of a gun ban in their stores could do more harm then good and stressed that this is not a mandate for Levi's shoppers, simply calling it a request.

"It boils down to this: you shouldn't have to be concerned about your safety while shopping for clothes or trying on a pair of jeans. Simply put, firearms don't belong in either of those settings," Bergh said.