TexasGal wrote:
The verbiage of the letter is an earnest plea to please stop making Starbucks any public part of the gun argument--and especially pertaining to visible guns. Some in the open carry crowd just will not stop pushing all of their fellow citizens to become completely accepting of strangers to stand next to them and their children with a visible gun.
Note the wording he selects:
I would like to clarify two points. First, this is a request and not an outright ban. Why? Because we want to give responsible gun owners the chance to respect our request—and also because enforcing a ban would potentially require our partners to confront armed customers, and that is not a role I am comfortable asking Starbucks partners to take on. Second, we know we cannot satisfy everyone.
To me (and this is my interpretation only, yours may vary), those of the words of a smart businessman who likely supports guns, but doesn't want his store to become a tool used by both sides against each other. His position makes perfect sense. Why alienate half your customer base to please the other half, when you can simply invite all in equally? Remember, he makes money by selling coffee, not by promoting any specific agenda.
My wife does the same, by the way: she's a jeweler, and she owns an independent jewelry store in the Houston Heights area. Her area is so liberal that Sheila Jackson Lee's office is only a block away. The vast majority of her customer base swings far to the left of center, by virtue of her store's location. Any discussion of guns being welcome in her store would cause many of her customers to not just stop coming, but also convince their friends never to come in again. It would be a death knell for her business, so she avoids the topic. But don't make any mistake - she's carrying 100% of the time in there, and welcomes CHL holders to do the same. She evenJust don't force the conversation into the open while others are in the store.
A unique parallel exists here with the gay community. I don't care a person's orientation any more than I care their religion or whether they prefer Peter Pan vs. Jif peanut butter. Do what you want in your own room, and I don't care. In the business world I have hired and promoted both straight vs. gay people, and their orientation did not matter one bit, as long as they were the right person for the job.
But acceptance is not the same as embracing - and I'm not interested in
embracing or
celebrating alternative lifestyle choices. My wife and I have a much more conservative belief structure, and we're encouraging that in our daughter as well. So, if you force my hand on the subject, then you might not like my answer. Just be happy that I accept it, and will not use your personal choices against you in my business decisions.
The same thing happens with this latest generation of 'YouTube' open carry video makers. They're not content with easing people into the idea of being comfortable with guns - they need to make it 'in your face'. This does little to help our cause, and (as demonstrated by Mr. Schultz), can hurt us demonstrably. His letter was quite neutral - he supports the 2A, he refuses to ban, but openly requests that open carry stops in his stores. Antis perceive this as a victory, and many 2A supporters (as witnessed here) perceive this as a loss. Unfortunately, both are right, because perception is reality.
And by the way...Peter Pan is clearly better than Jif.
