Congratulations are due to everyone who decided to open carry at Starbucks. The company has implemented a new policy under which guns are no longer welcome on their property.
Recently, however, we’ve seen the “open carry” debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening. Pro-gun activists have used our stores as a political stage for media events misleadingly called “Starbucks Appreciation Days” that disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of “open carry.” To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores. Some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction, including soliciting and confronting our customers and partners.
For these reasons, today we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas–even in states where “open carry” is permitted–unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel.
The policy doesn’t just make open carry unwelcome; we are asked not to carry guns at all. The only reason it’s not an outright ban is because the company doesn’t want employees confronting armed customers.
Nobody gets a pass by blaming the gun-control lobby. We own this.
I’d ask people not to send vitriolic letters or make obnoxious posts on the company’s Facebook page, but I’d be wasting my time. I’d ask them not to show up and “push the envelope” by openly carrying in defiance of the policy, but I’d be wasting my time. Don’t bother with the boycott threats, because they won’t work.
Starbucks tried to accommodate us. In return, we rubbed their nose in it. We’ve shown ourselves to be questionable allies at best. That’s all they, or any other business on the fence, needs to know.
Please, tell me again how open carry “normalizes” the issue, or how it helps our cause at all.