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GunHating Zealots Protest Starbucks; Want All Stores To Ban Customers Who Carry Guns...
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3 front groups joined forces today in Seattle to Protest the fact that Starbucks Coffee Co. Follows State Laws where they do business.
Since they have been unable to sway public opinion against guns, the fear mongers have taken the path of least resistance: pressuring large corporations to ignore state laws by writing their own 'house' rules banning customers who dare carry weapons.
Interestingly, some people in FAVOR of 'carry' laws also showed up today, frightening the anti-gun zealots. These protestors were armed.
A videographer who was on hand to record the protests captured the images of various Anti-Gun people as they attempted to flee the area on bicycles and in cars. The video follows:
Article:
Brady Campaign, gun rights activists disagree at press conference over Starbucks' refusal to ban guns
Posted by Melissa Allison
ELAINE THOMPSON / AP
Greg Dement sits with a Colt 1911 handgun strapped to his belt and a Starbucks coffee drink in his hand while looking on at an anti-gun rally in Seattle this morning.
The Brady Campaign wants Starbucks to ban guns in its stores, and delivered 28,000 signatures to its Seattle headquarters today after a press conference near Pike Place Market.
Before the event, Starbucks issued a release asking not to be put in the middle of the gun controversy.
"They are in the middle," Brady Campaign spokesman Brian Malte said at the event. "They chose not to bar guns in their stores so far."
A few dozen people attended, including gun rights advocates who regularly interrupted the press conference with cries of "liar!" and "fear monger!"
Dueling posters carried various slogans, including "Espresso shots not shotguns" and "Gun control kills."
The Brady Campaign asked Starbucks to ban guns after Open Carry advocates appeared at its stores in California to make a point about their right to openly carry guns. Other chains where they met, including Peet's Coffee & Tea and California Pizza Kitchen, have issued notices that guns are not allowed -- either at all or on display -- in their shops unless you're a police officer.
Like many chains including McDonald's, Starbucks complies with local laws.
"The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores," it said in a release. Adopting a ban on openly carrying guns would force its employees, which it calls partners, "to ask law abiding customers to leave our stores, putting our partners in an unfair and potentially unsafe position."
OpenCarry.org is a web site started in 2004 that describes itself as "a pro-gun Internet community focused on the right to openly carry properly holstered handguns in daily American life." More than 27,000 members are registered for its online discussion forum.
Co-founder Mike Stollenwerk of Virginia said member meetings take place all over the country -- including in Washington -- but that he is not familiar with how Starbucks was chosen for meetings in California.
In California, Open Carry members frequently protest the fact that they cannot openly carry a loaded gun. They show up at Starbucks and other chains with unloaded guns. In Washington and many other states, loaded guns can be carried openly.
Stollenwerk is not sure how Open Carry members in California chose Starbucks for their meetings, but said they used to meet at Peet's Coffee. "That's where the Open Carry group started to coagulate, because it's a convenient place to have a coffee and whatever those things they microwave are," he said.
After Peet's told them they were not welcome, they went to Starbucks.
Heidi Yewman, president of the Million Mom March chapter in Vancouver, Wash., also spoke at the press conference, saying she is surprised and upset that Starbucks lets people openly carry guns in its stores.
"If someone walks into a Starbucks openly carrying a gun, how I am I supposed to know if they're a good guy or a bad guy?" she said.
At that point, a couple of gun rights activists called, "fear monger!"
Washington Ceasefire president Ralph Fascitelli also spoke to the group and brought up the November shootings of four police officers at a coffee shop in Parkland. "If these four highly trained professionals with their guns on them cannot fend off a determined killer, what would cause us to believe that the Open Carry crowd can do better?" he asked.
After the press conference, several people carrying guns on their hips said that criminals do not openly carry.
"Maurice Clemmons was not openly carrying a gun," said Curt Davis of Graham, who regularly carries his gun at his side. "If he had been, they would've seen it and could have had time to react."
Jon Holzwarth of Lake Stevens, who was also openly carrying his gun this morning, said he is not a big advocate of open carry. "I'd rather people not know I carry, because I don't want people to judge me based on the fact that I own a firearm," he said.
But he showed up today openly carrying, "because we're here at this meeting to to protest the protesters for not supporting Starbucks."
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