Carrying in the Asheville Mall

Some years ago when North Carolina became a "shall issue" state a provision of the law allowed any business which did not wish citizens to carry concealed upon their premises to display a sign at their entrance notifying the public that carrying arms within was prohibited.

One of the commercial locations which took this course was the Asheville Mall. They placed a decal upon each entry door showing the outline of a pistol in the center of a circle with a diagonal slash in the universal sign of "banned". They also posted mall rules of conduct at the entrances which specifically stated that firearms were not allowed. This is something that many other businesses in the state did.

Not long after that the NC pro-gun organization, Grassroots North Carolina, began their "Don't Buy" program in which they encouraged boycotts of businesses who did not trust their customers to carry firearms on their premises. Around a year later I noticed the "no gun" signs missing from the entrances to the Asheville Mall. I assumed that the mall had "seen the light" and was now allowing licensed citizens to carry on their property.

I was curious to confirm that so I checked their website and found their "behavioral code of conduct" posted to their website (read it here, pdf format). The revelant passage conserning firearms is this:

Carrying or displaying weapons of any kind except those carried by certified law enforcement officers in the performance of their duties.

I should note that the document lists the last update as occuring in 2003 so it could well be out of date. However let us take it at its word and assume that the policy stated is the current policy of the Mall.

The phrase "in the performance of their duties" means cops on routine patrol, cops answering a call or cops investigating a crime. This means that the Asheville Mall does not welcome officers of the law who are armed off duty, or cops who simply wish to eat lunch at the food court or cops who wish to shop on their lunch hour.

Is that really what they mean?