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1. Target follows Starbucks and Chipotle with a non-ban ban
2. Thoughts on open carry of long guns
3. If you like being insulted, do we have a Virginia gun store for you!
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1. Target follows Starbucks and Chipotle with a non-ban ban
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Target has followed Starbucks’s and Chipotle’s lead and is “asking” gun owners not to carry in their stores. That is totally different from banning guns. It’s meant to shut up the Lying Moms Demand Action (LMDA) members (all 30 of them), while leaving everything else status quo.
** For gun owners, it really means nothing has changed at all. **
What’s happening is really pretty simple. Starbucks, Chipotle, and Target are in the business of selling things. They were not formed to either protect, or to hurt, the Second Amendment or any of the other Amendments for that matter. And they certainly don’t want to be in the middle of a battle over those rights. They just want to sell things regardless of their customer’s religion, politics, race, gender, or any other status.
So the LMDA starts whining (and they are really good at that!) and the corporation tries to figure out how to extricate themselves from the controversy, while keeping as many of their customers as they can. They aren’t anti-gun or anti-self-defense, they just want out of the middle.
The solution is what we are seeing now. It goes like this: in a soon-to-be-forgotten press release, they announce that they are “asking” gun owners not to bring guns in their stores. And, in the same press release, they make it clear that they are not actually banning guns. No gun-buster stickers on the doors, no one asked to leave if they do carry. A Target spokesperson specifically stated that this policy is NOT a gun ban.
Some gun owners want to boycott places like Starbucks, Chipotle, and Target because these stores ASKED that guns not be carried there. Far be it from me to tell any of you how or where to spend your hard-earned cash. But for me, it’s life as usual. I will continue to go to Starbucks and Target and I will be carrying. If they didn’t want me there, they’d TELL me, not ASK me.
If Target were to start kicking gun owners out of their stores, that would change everything. But there has been no hint of any such thing happening from either Starbucks or Chipotle and I don’t think it will happen at Target either.
This question has been coming up: if the LMDA attacks stores like Target to ban guns, shouldn’t we counter them?
That’s a good question without an easy answer. Gun owners DID lobby Starbucks heavily and in the end we got a non-ban ban. We did NOT lobby Target and we got a non-ban ban.
From a store’s point of view the non-ban ban is a great way to resolve such an issue. It’s hard for us to argue and win against a ban that does nothing but stop some loud whining from grown women.
We could try to punish the stores in question, but why? They said we can still carry and that we are still welcome there. What is it we would be fighting to accomplish that we don’t already have?
I say we hold our ire for a store that actually ends up banning guns. THEN VCDL will kick into high gear with protests, email, mail and robocalls against those stores. They will be lit up like a deer in the headlights, for our numbers are vastly superior and our members are much more dedicated and articulate than anything LMDA could ever hope to muster.
For now we have a non-event.
There is one caveat, however: if you hear the media saying that Target has instituted a gun ban, do not let that pass. They are probably parroting something they heard elsewhere without actually investigating what was really said by Target. Make sure everyone understands the truth about these non-ban bans. Again Target SPECIFICALLY said there is NO gun ban, just a polite request.
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2. Thoughts on open carry of long guns
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Below is a link to an interview I did this week dealing with three men who have been open carrying long guns in a busy commercial area of Richmond recently.
Open carry of long guns has been in the news because of Texas gun owners doing so. In Texas, only police are allowed to open carry a handgun, so Texans are open carrying the only thing they legally can: long guns. For those 18 to 20 years old in Texas, their only option for carrying a gun at all is to carry a long gun openly.
The real goal in Texas is to get their General Assembly to change the law to allow open carry of handguns, a battle that I’m sure Texas gun owners will win.
Here in Virginia open carry of long guns is very rare, largely because there is no need. Anyone 18 years or older who can own a gun can openly carry a handgun without any kind of permit. It’s a form of Constitutional Carry.
VCDL is neutral on how a gun owner carries and what type of gun he carries, as long as it is legal and safe.
That said, I have a few thoughts on open carry of long guns:
1. It is very inconvenient to open carry a long gun as one goes about one’s normal life. Things like sitting down and standing up become complicated and can be down right uncomfortable if done for long stretches of time. Compare that to a holstered handgun, that you can easily forget that you are wearing.
2. Muzzle control becomes a big issue. As you sit down, stand up, and go about your life carrying a long gun slung over your shoulder, you must have a constant consideration of where the muzzle is pointing. A sling for a long gun is just not as practical as a holster for a handgun.
3. A sling does not cover the long gun’s trigger. Not so with a handgun holster.
4. Standing up and sitting down will probably require you to actually handle the long gun (as in hold it in your hands). Doing so could almost border on brandishing and is simply not as safe as not handling the long gun in public.
5. Many rifles don’t have drop safeties. So they really need to be carried without a round in the chamber if they don’t have such a safety. Meanwhile, virtually all modern handguns have drop safeties.
6. Last, but by no means least, in a lot of localities in Virginia a long gun CAN'T be carried loaded because of hunting laws! So you end up lugging around a very heavy and a very expensive club. Not so with a handgun, which can be kept loaded anywhere you travel in the state.
Here is the story where I was interviewed:
http://wtvr.com/2014/07/01/long-guns-carytown/
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3. If you like being insulted, do we have a Virginia gun store for you!
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A VCDL member brought to our attention a “No loaded guns” sign on the door of Absolute Outdoors in New Kent. EM Ed Levine sent them an email to confirm that policy.
First, let me say that many gun stores have a “no loaded guns” policy. That’s because, unlike pretty much any other public place around, people are actually drawing guns and handling them in a gun store. That said, many stores have a better policy of saying that a person can have a holstered, loaded handgun as long as the gun never leaves the holster while the owner is in the store.
So, if the “no loaded guns” was indeed Absolute Outdoors's policy, it wouldn’t be the best policy, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for such a business.
However, the response Ed got back was, well, unbelievable and uncalled for.
We report, you decide.
Here is Ed’s email to Absolute Outdoors:
On Jun 30, 2014 10:04 AM, <Ed> wrote:
Hi -
Someone told me that you guys have a sign on your door that prohibits the lawful carry of firearms by customers (unless they are law enforcement). [PVC: Here I will note that Ed should have said “...the lawful carry of a LOADED firearm by customers…” However, this would have been a good opportunity for the gun store to set the record straight.]
I just wanted to confirm that before I put the word out to 30,000 Virginia gun owners.
Thanks,
Ed Levine
Founder - Virginia Open Carry
Executive Member - Virginia Citizens Defense League
NRA - Life member and Instructor
GOA - member
—
The response back to Ed:
In a message dated 6/30/2014 11:16:22 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, abowarehouse@gmail.com writes:
You need to add to your list of titles:
Loser
Idiot
In desperate need of a life
life long member of the tiny dick club
Just plain stupid
Now that better describes you.
Rick Baker, owner
I'm usually there everyday so you should drop by and see me little man.
—
Sounds like Sarah Brady wrote that clever response to Ed. Ed was in the Marines, so I’m not so sure that the “little man” thing fits him very well.
There are lots of gun stores out there and I know that I, for one, won’t be headed to Absolute Outdoors anytime soon. I’ll be spending my money with gun dealers that treat gun owners in a friendly and respectful manner. There are plenty of them out there.
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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]