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Starbucks was the subject of a nationwide boycott by gun control advocates last Saturday, and the group plans on making the no-coffee protests a reoccurring event.
Moms Demand Actions for Gun Sense In America spearheaded the Starbucks boycott. The group formed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., last December.
The popular coffee chain complies with local open carry laws in states where such Second Amendment statutes allow citizens the right to defend themselves with a firearm in public. The gun control group wants Starbucks, which has taken a stance on other controversial issues, to come out against guns publicly and prohibit weapons inside the restaurant chain nationwide.
The boycott was dubbed Skip Starbucks Saturday.
“Starbucks calls themselves a progressive company but by not taking a stand on guns, they’ve become a rallying place for open carry supporters,” said Moms Demand Actions for Gun Sense In America founder Shannon Watts. “Secondhand bullets are far more dangerous than secondhand smoke. I am at a loss … as to why Starbucks values the safety of its corporate leadership so far ahead of the safety of their customers.”
Starbucks, though, doesn’t appear to be budging.
“While we recognize there is significant and genuine passion surrounding the topic of open carry laws, our long-standing approach to this debate has been to comply with local laws in the communities we serve,” Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson told The Huffington Post.
Despite what the protest might imply, a growing number of concealed carry and open carry gun owners are women, who have taken the time to learn how to shoot to better protect themselves and their children. Today, 23 percent of gun owners are female – a 77 percent increase since 2005.
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In February, Townhall.com columnist Celia Bigelow explained why she is a gun owner.
“While folks in the media are blaming the spike on the guns-and-glam advertising (ahem Piers Morgan), women–including myself–have a different reason: It’s self-defense, stupid,” she wrote. “… [T]he logic is simple: Women want to protect themselves and their family, and guns are the great equalizer between sexes in crimes against women. The facts are there to prove it.”
Earlier in August gun rights supporters planned a pro-Second Amendment rally at the Newtown Starbucks. The store, which is located just a few miles away from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, opted to close the day of the rally.
The adoption of a no guns policy at Buffalo Wild Wings and the AMC Theaters chain resulted in a loss of Second Amendment supporting customers. As previously reported by Off The Grid News, the Staples chain also experienced swift, firm and potentially long-lasting backlash when a gun store owner was prohibited from participating in a contest for small business owners. By the time Staples apologized, blamed the denial on a glitch of some type and invited the gun store owners to participate in future contests, the damage had already been done – and orders by gun owners already sent to competitors like Office Max.
Bigelow wrote that she grows tired of male politicians telling her how to protect herself.
“Let’s get real,” she wrote. “As a young, 22-year-old, 140 lb. woman, I know that call boxes, pens, and whistles won’t do much good if ever faced with a crazed man twice my size. But when it comes to liberals — especially male politicians — it’s easy to fire off stupid solutions from ivory towers. What frustrates these male elitists the most is that women are arming themselves, and it’s working. In fact, I would argue that women are arming themselves because guns work, and that fact is spreading like wildfire.
“Piers Morgan, Joe Salazar, and the rest of these liberals should stop condescending to female gun owners. I didn’t buy my AR-15 for a certain color or because of ‘direct marketing.’ I bought it because it will protect me from violent intruders. Any ladies out there without guns, you should too.”
