Moms and Guns in Costco

Instagram is telling me to empower myself by packing heat in Costco

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Book club update. We will have our February author Jessica Soffer of This is a Love Story on a substack live with me next Thursday at 3:30. Get me all your questions for her.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I get served a lot of Instagram videos that take place in Costco. I was late to the Costco game, but now I am a massive stan. In fact I buy almost all of my snack ingredients for Sicilian Inheritance book events from Costco. Below is what I stock up on.

They are also home to my favorite underwear, the terribly unsexy but still magical high rise, seamless Carole Hochmans.

I’m not alone in my adoration of the brand (I would also like to note that unlike many other massive retailers, they do very well by their employees). House Beautiful just ran an entire piece on the concept of “Costco therapy.”

So when I was scrolling Instagram the other day I thought I was being served yet another innocuous Costco shopping haul video. Would I find out about a new bulk cheese option, much like my beloved one pound of halloumi that I consistently purchase?

No. That’s not what was happening at all.

Upon closer inspection I was being served a way to carry my gun in a handy and fashionable little fanny pack while shopping at Costco with children.

At first glance I didn’t know what I was happening in the video of the pretty blonde woman pushing a shopping cart with two small kids inside.

The caption of the post was:

“This is what empowering women looks like. I LOVE this bag. It is comfortable and easy to use! With quick access in case I need my pew pew. Send me a DM for a link and 15% off this bag.”

First things first. I didn’t know that “pew pew” is a way to say hand gun. Pew Pew is the nickname often used on social media to get around filters. Why pew pew you might ask (I did). It apparently comes from the sound that a laser or gun makes in a video game. According to Google AI it is a “lighthearted way to represent the sound of a gunshot, often used in a non-serious manner.”

If you look up #pewpew on social media you will also find sexy leggings that are easy to conceal carry a weapon in. But let’s go back to Costco. The woman in the reel (again, a reel that was served to me by the Instagram algorithm) is pushing her cute kids through the aisles of my favorite store as she slowly opens her fanny pack to reveal her gun.