Lovers and gun lovers at Starbucks?
Lovers won’t be the only ones meeting over a cup of Caffè Misto at Starbucks today.
In many states, gun lovers, openly strapped, also might be seen dropping in on the coffee shop, much to the chagrin of gun-control advocates who say the popular coffee chain should ban the latter group from its counters.
Starbucks finds itself in the middle of a heated national battle between those defending their right to bear arms openly and those who say society is violent enough without such open displays of firepower.
The National Gun Victims Action Council created an open “Brew not Bullets” Valentines Day open email to Starbucks that supporters can send opposing the practice and the group is urging supporters not to visit a Starbucks until it bans guns inside its shops.
Starbucks says it’s just complying with the laws of 43 states where it is legal to carry weapons openly. The chain has nearly 5,000 locations in those states.
According to pro-guns advocate opencarry.org, more than half of those states allow owners to carry a loaded handgun without any form of government permission. Another dozen, including Georgia, allow unconcealed loaded handguns to be carried with a permit.
Some pro-gun advocates in California show up at Starbucks and other retailers with unloaded handguns holstered to their belts to protest California laws that place restrictions on openly carrying weapons.
Here’s a link to opencarry.org’s summary of Georgia’s open-carry law.
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63 comments Add your comment
Gun Owner
February 14th, 2012
4:19 pm
@meh – that was implied since that was the piece of the article I was addressing, but since some people on here don’t seem to know much about anything – your correction point is likely necessary. This whole thread has been a good reminder of why I don’t read the comments section normally
David
February 14th, 2012
4:31 pm
The facts are so strait forward it’s not funny. Go to locations that have carry laws, or other similar laws that allow people the right to carry a gun and you have lower stastics of gun crime than you do in areas where they have strick laws forbidding guns. I am sorry but “gun control” laws do nothing to make people safer they only punish law abiding citizens, it’s one of those rules where people “feel better” when it doesn’t mean squat. Guess what you could have a law that makes it illegal for someone to have a gun in Starbucks, I will bet you money that people will still go into Starbucks with guns that you don’t see, but I suppose you feel better.
1187 Remington Way
February 14th, 2012
4:36 pm
Mr. Prog is correct, there are many of us who don’t toe the line of either party and own guns, so y’all callin’ each other names because of your party preferences just look ignorant. As for outlawing guns, it just ain’t gonna happen. There are far too many people that own guns and the gun lobby is almost as strong as any lobby out today. Some states may restrict usage or whatever, but you won’t see any federal law banning guns outright in the foreseeable future. Despite all the gloom and doom stories about “Obama and the left” and their plan to outlaw guns it just ain’t gonna happen.
Mark
February 14th, 2012
4:56 pm
I believe I have the right to know what the policy of the establishment is with respect to whether they allow guns or disallow guns before I enter. This has nothing to do with making an establishment more or less likely to be entered by a criminal with a gun. Why should only people with guns have rights? And you can get sued for shooting a criminal in your house. The deadly force statute does not give anyone an absolute right to kill under any and all circumstances. There still can be exceptions. Gun owners are not absolved of all responsibility for their actions, and don’t forget just because there’s a law authorizing deadly force on your property, anyone can sue in civil court and win.
SAWB
February 14th, 2012
5:16 pm
“I believe I have the right to know what the policy of the establishment is with respect to whether they allow guns or disallow guns before I enter.”
Well, look for signs prohibiting guns before you enter and that means guns are not allowed while no sign means they are allowed. Seems pretty simply to me…
BS Patrol
February 14th, 2012
5:45 pm
I hate to tell you, 1187, but it is going to happen. In my children’s lifetime. Why do you think they record new gun #’s to the owner? One more lunatic sprays a school and we’ll wind up just like England. That’s why I like my pieces unregistered. Buy/trade used.
The AntiBoortz
February 14th, 2012
6:13 pm
@BS Patrol:
How many gun fatalities per captia are there in England? Less than here? Duh!
We’d be 30 times LESS likely to die by firearm if we were like England (United Kingdom)!
I’d go for that!
Country Total firearm-related death rate Homicides Suicides Unintentional deaths
United States 10.27 4.14 5.71 0.23
England/ Wales 0.46 0.38 0.07 0.15
Cellularphoniqua
February 14th, 2012
6:16 pm
My pistola goes everywhere in my pocket, and if you look @ the number of CCW permits issued in GA that apparently goes for a whole bunch of others, too.
The bad guys know Starbucky’s patrons are armed so they’re more likely to do their dirty work in the known gun-free areas.
The AntiBoortz
February 14th, 2012
6:19 pm
Well actually we’d be 30 times less likely to be murdered if we were like the UK. They had .04 homicides per 100K people to our 4.1.
We’d be 200 times Less Likely to DIE by a firearm if we were like the UK. They had 0.46 firearm deaths per 100k people to our outrageous 10.27 firearm deaths per 100k people.
JANE YOU IGNROANT SLUT!
jfh
February 15th, 2012
8:57 am
@The AntiBoortz: ahhh, the eternal untruths and half-truths of the antigun crowd.
30 times less likely to be murdered…maybe. But, FIVE TIMES more likely to be the victim of a violent crime.
I suggest you move to the UK–you might still be living, after all the mayhem.
jay gore
February 15th, 2012
12:15 pm
Lets say I stop by starbucks for a coffee and perhaps sit for a while inside using my laptop. I am a law abiding gun carrying citizen who has had a complete FBI background check and firearms training on a regular basis as most of us do. Now lets say starbucks doesn’t allow me to bring my firearm, concealed or otherwise, into the building. Now I have to leave my firearm in my vehicle. Sure, its likely locked in the glovebox, but it is still MUCH more exposed and presents a much larger hazard to the public. God forbid I have an NRA sticker (which I don’t for this exact reason) on my car that may suggest I carry a gun, because a criminal watching me enter a “gun-free” zone could instantly target MY vehicle (regardless of any evidence of my support for firearms, of course)! Now I’m inside Starbucks, with no firearm, and in comes the guy who just broke into my vehicle to steal my gun and he has a much different agenda for that firearm than I did. THE SAFEST PLACE FOR MY GUN TO BE IS ON MY PERSON…. NOT IN MY CAR!
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February 15th, 2012
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