Target Stores in Crosshairs of Gun Rights Fight

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Target Corp. is in the crosshairs of a fight over gun rights.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is trying to pressure the Minneapolis-based retailer into prohibiting customers from carrying guns in its stores. It's an attempt to counter gun owners in some states who've been shopping and dining with rifles slung over their shoulders to asset their rights to openly carry firearms in public.

The group's founder, Shannon Watts, says rifle-toting shoppers have been spotted at Targets in Wisconsin, Texas, Alabama, Ohio, North Carolina, Washington, and Virginia.

Open Carry Texas is trying to make it legal to openly carry handguns in public. Rifles are already legal there.

Target says it won't institute an overall open-carry ban. Spokeswoman Molly Snyder says the company follows state and federal laws.