Posted on 09/18/2013 3:55:56 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
On Tuesday night, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wrote the following open letter asking customers to no longer bring firearms into the stores, even in states where they are legally permissible to carry.
He notes that this is not a "ban" on guns, but rather a request. In the letter, Schultz expresses frustration with pro-gun activists who have held "Starbucks Appreciation Day" events at the company's location, ostensibly to laud the coffee shop's policy on open-carry. Schultz does not want these events held at Starbucks any longer. With the letter, he risks incurring the anger of a large segment of the population.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
They have a right to request you not bring weapons onto their property.
You have a right to decide not to patronize them.
That’s impeccable free enterprise and free market doctrine.
Agree completely!
He blames it on both sides, but only asks for concessions from the gun owners.
“Someone who uses facts!
Criminals are lazy but not entirely stupid. They look for easy marks, not ones who will start shooting back. I can cite numerous examples of CCers being jumped; none for OCers.
OC is clearly a deterrent while CC will never be because it is invisible. “
And yet, violent crime has gone down in every state where concealed carry has been enacted . . . curious.
concealed carry = polite, respectful citizen aware of the need for personal security but no desire to call attention to his/her preparedness.
Open carry = attention whore.
Contact Starbucks here using Social Responsibility option....as of now, the servers appear to be overloaded:
http://customerservice.starbucks.com/app/contact/ask_company_info/
I disagree with this statement. The Starbucks CEO is using the "some of our customers are uncomfortable" excuse to politely request that a different subset of customers refrain from entering their stores (at least while carrying).
The analogy to segregation is sound - it emphasizes that one group of customers should be accommodated more highly than others, when the law doesn't provide a basis for denying accommodation. It is the nature of the request to surrender a right, rather than the specific right being surrendered, that makes the comparison apt.
What will be interesting is when the lack of "no guns" signs becomes an issue. And I predict that, in the face of a legal right to open carry inside a Starbucks, the lack of the prohibition signs WILL become an issue.
Interesting... Someone who exercises their legal and constitutional rights is an attention whore. Someone who may or may not be able to get a PERMIT from the government to exercise their inalienable right to keep and bear arms so they take the obvious step of exercising their rights in a less private fashion is an attention whore.
How's the view of your colon?
"That’s why I am writing today with a respectful request that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas."
No mention of whether the firearms are carried openly or concealed.
Yes. I found that interesting as well.
So, I'll simply state, with the same level of absolutism which you used, that people who say things like "Open carry = attention whore" are complete a$$holes.
Check out that “attention whore”!!
Amen.
Of course they have a right to take a position on political issues. I do not recall saying that they don’t.
However, in this case, they haven’t taken a position. They have issued a mealy-mouthed plea in an attempt to appease both sides of a political issue.
As someone else posted earlier, why don’t they just ban guns in their stores altogether, since that is obviously what they really want.
It’s just a request. Feel free to ignore it.
The context is people using Starbucks as a venue for open-carry. If it's openly carried, other customers notice and may become alarmed. If it's carried concealed, then other customers generally won't notice.
It's all about not scaring the customers, and I can understand and respect his position.
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