Kroger Says “No” to Moms Demand: Our Customers Can #ShopSafe
Grocery Chain Refuses to Bow to Bullying from Moms Demand Action
Gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America are back at their antics. This time, however, the winner is real common sense, not the anti-gun group’s misguided, misappropriated version of the phrase.
After bullying other retailers with varying results, MDA moved their attention toward their biggest target yet, Kroger – the world’s fifth largest retailer – and their subsidiary, Fred Meyer. Chipotle, Chili’s, Sonic, Jack-in-the-Box, Starbucks, and Target have all either outright banned guns or issued statements asking customers not to carry in their stores. Staples, on the other hand, ejected Moms Demand Action from their property as they tried to deliver their anti-gun propaganda to the company’s CEO, Ron Sargent.
Kroger has indicated that they want to focus on selling groceries, not enter the heated political debate on gun control. In their statement, the company said “Our long-standing policy on this issue is to follow state and local laws and to ask customers to be respectful of others while shopping.” Unlike some of MDA’s other targets, Kroger expressed trust in their customers, choosing to treat them as responsible citizens rather than criminals. “We know that our customers are passionate on both sides of this issue, and we trust them to be responsible in our stores.”
Kroger’s statement makes it clear that they want their patrons to be able to shop in safety. Like a frustrated child, when MDA didn’t get their way, they resorted to their usual tactics and threw the equivalent of a temper tantrum, calling for a boycott Continue reading
Alien Gear Offers New Lines of Holsters, Accessories
Earlier this year I bought a pair of Alien Gear IWB Cloak Tuck holsters for some carry guns. I liked them enough (see review here) to pick up another one on the secondary market. The folks at Alien Gear have been keeping busy and I recently had the opportunity to try out some of their new products and accessories.
One of the big features of Alien Gear products – aside from comfort – is their modularity. The Cloak Tuck IWB holsters consist of the leather backing, the Kydex shell, and front and rear belt clips – each with three different mounting positions to adjust for cant and ride height. The removable shell allows for swapping out shells if you change carry guns or if the shell gets damaged. This modularity is also the driving force behind a lot of Alien Gear’s newest offerings. Continue reading
Pinch Yourself… Firearm Carry in DC?
UPDATE (7/29/2014) Motion to stay decision pending appeal granted. While this is in place, you cannot legally carry in DC.
If you follow GunLink on social media like Twitter or Facebook, peruse the GunLink forums or listen to the “gun buzz,” you may have already heard the big news coming out of DC. Over this past weekend, a major decision and order was handed down from the US District Court in the District of Columbia in Palmer et al. vs DC.
In case you haven’t been paying, this is the case where plaintiffs Palmer, Lyon, Raymond, McVey and the Second Amendment Foundation claim that “[b]y requiring a permit to carry a handgun in public, yet refusing to issue such permits and refusing to allow the possession of any handgun that would be carried in public, Defendants [the District of Columbia] maintain a complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public by almost all individuals” and that “banning the carrying of handguns in public violate[s] the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, facially and as applied against the individual plaintiffs in this action, damaging plaintiffs in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.”
In a landmark win for rights in our nation’s capital, after the District Court heard arguments from Alan Gura – whose name you probably remember from such notable cases as McDonald V Chicago, DC v Heller, Moore v Madigan and others – Senior US District Court Judge Frederick Scullin Jr handed down his opinion (full text of opinion): Continue reading
But It’s Just a Policy…
Why “Concealed Means Concealed” is a Bunch of Hooey
Since there have been firearms to carry there have been businesses, individuals and organizations that want to restrict firearms carry. This isn’t anything new. However, there has been a recent rash of well-publicized statements from companies like Target, IKEA, Starbucks, Chili’s, Chipotle and others who say that they would prefer to have a “criminal protection zone” than an environment in which their customers are able to #EatSafe and #ShopSafe.
These statements are often met with replies along the lines of “concealed means concealed” or “if you do it right, they will never know that you are carrying.”
It is most likely true that you could carry a concealed firearms into any of these places without anyone ever being wise to it. After all, have you ever seen metal detectors or pat-downs in any of the aforementioned businesses. In many of these cases, you would probably be within the law unless you were asked to leave and refused to do so.
The question is… why on earth would you want to? Continue reading
Target Latest Retailer to Ask Customers Not to Carry in Their Stores
The second largest discount retailer in the US announced today that they would be deviating from their historical policy of deferring to state and local laws regarding firearms carry in their stores.
In their release, the 36th ranked Fortune 500 company said that they “respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law,” making them the latest in a string of businesses making statements. That list includes companies such as Starbucks, Chili’s, Chipotle and others who would rather their customers check their rights at the door than allow them to #EatSafe or #ShopSafe.
As you’ve likely seen in the media, there has been a debate about whether guests in communities that permit “open carry” should be allowed to bring firearms into Target stores. Our approach has always been to follow local laws, and of course, we will continue to do so. But starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law.
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This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create.
As our friends over at Guns Save Life put it, “if Target can’t even keep your credit card data safe, why would you trust them to keep you and your family safe?” Continue reading
Tell Businesses Not to Disarm Customers
Project #EatSafe and Project #ShopSafe: Using Social Media to Urge Businesses to Exercise Real Common Sense
Despite being irrational, fear mongering, hoplophobic bigots, gun control zealots do get one thing right: PR campaigns. They simply do not have the facts on their side, so they try to use emotions to garner support for their misguided ideology and, often, they succeed. Between desperate hand-wringing, fabricated “facts,” and effective use of astroturf social media movements, the vocal minority of the anti-constitution crowd knows how to get what they want (or at least give the impression that they did).
Take, for instance, recent social media campaigns to bully, er… boycott, businesses that weren’t taking an anti-gun position. The #BurritosNotBullets hashtag campaign enlisted social media users to harass Chipotle until they asked customers not to bring firearms into their restaurants. Before that, anti-rights groups and their supporters organized #SkipStarbucks Saturday (it must have been oh-so-difficult for morning commuters and 9-to-5-ers to give up the coffee shop on the weekend) before Starbucks reversed their firearms policy. Whether the online campaigns had anything to do with the decisions or the companies simply made a business decision based on the action of a few demonstrators, the gun control groups immediately began crowing loudly and taking credit for each “victory.” Continue reading
