Read Walmart CEO Doug McMillon's email to the corporate employee who staged a protest over gun sales (WMT)

"I appreciate how much you and the other signees on the petition care about safety in our stores and in our country," McMillon wrote in an email to Walmart e-commerce employee Thomas Marshall.
Marshall, who recently organized a walkout to protest the company's gun sales, emailed a copy of the petition to McMillon on Tuesday.
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Walmart CEO Doug McMillon responded Wednesday to a petition with more than 129,000 signatures that calls on the company to stop selling guns in the wake of two deadly shootings at its stores.

In an email sent Wednesday to Walmart e-commerce employee Thomas Marshall, McMillon said sales and profit are not driving the company's decision to keep selling guns and that safety is Walmart's number one priority.

McMillon also said he appreciates "how much you and the other signees on the petition care about safety in our stores and in our country."

"We think the steps we've taken in the past were positive ones and we're considering a number of additional steps as I mentioned in the town hall on Friday," McMillon wrote in the email, which was viewed by Business Insider. "We'll take the necessary time to think this through and share our conclusions at the right time."

McMillon's message was sent in response to an email that Marshall had sent him on Tuesday, which included a copy of the petition.

"The last thing we would want to do is politicize pain; please know, in delivering this petition, we want to prevent more unnecessary pain," Marshall wrote in the email to McMillon. "Customers no longer feel as safe as they once did in our stores. We must do more. We have the power to do more."

Marshall is a Walmart e-commerce employee based in San Bruno, California, who helped organize a recent walkout protesting the company's gun sales. He called for action against Walmart's gun sales in a mass email immediately following the shootings.

The petition he delivered to McMillon on Tuesday asks Walmart to stop selling guns and ammunition in its stores, bar people from carrying guns onto company property, and cease donations to politicians who accept money from the National Rifle Association.

Read McMillons email to Marshall:

"Hi Thomas, got your note and I appreciate how much you and the other signees on the petition care about safety in our stores and in our country. I do, too. We think the steps we've taken in the past were positive ones and we're considering a number of additional steps as I mentioned in the town hall on Friday. We're thinking about our own actions and those we should encourage others to take. By far, our number one priority is safety. Sales and profit are not driving our decisions here. We'll take the necessary time to think this through and share our conclusions at the right time. Please know that we're listening to you and to all the others that want their voices heard. Warm Regards, Doug"

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