Every now and then, and perhaps with increasing frequency, companies appear to make some statement asking customers not bring their firearms to their locations or decide to stop selling certain (or all) firearms and ammunition.
Take for instance the statement CVS made via twitter below:
And of course, gun control advocacy groups publicly claim a victory for “gun safety”.
So here is my take on this.
I’m pro liberty. That’s all there is to it. As such, I respect the right of private business to decide what they sell and implement whatever policies they see fit as long as they are lawful (I may disagree with the law from time to time, but that’s another issue all together). I also support an individual’s right to chose whom they engage in commerce with.
Personally, I actively avoid establishments prohibiting me from legally entering without my defensive tools. While many of these establishments may have voiced their request for me to not enter their premises armed, they may not have employed the legal requirements to actually legally prohibit me from doing so (I also avoid doing business with these establishments). This means a legally armed citizen is not legally required to comply with their policy until the establishment has met those requirements. So those who carry concealed may legally enter, no one will notice, and no harm no foul (as long as it’s legal).
However, the public pandering towards anti-gun advocacy groups worries me for a couple of reasons.
First, this behavior indicates that business believe there are far more gun control supporters that there are gun rights supporters. This is evident by their willingness to increase the risk of losing business from their gun rights supporting customers while decreasing the risk of losing business from their gun control supporting customers due to in action. If this is true, then the gun control advocacy groups winning the battle for more gun control and gun rights advocacy groups are loosing the fight for gun rights preservation. If that’s true, then we are risk of further erosion of gun rights and further weakening for the constitution and the bill of rights. If you are bothered by this, then I encourage you to do what you can to fight for gun rights and to help strengthen the gun rights advocacy groups.
The other reason this worries me is because these establishments are announcing they are a soft target to those intent on doing harm. It’s screaming: “Hey, bad guy! Look at here. You will find little to resistance right here. We are basically a gun-free zone. We are an easy target!” While statistically nothing will happen there, it is significantly more likely to happen in a gun-free zone. All the more reason a legally armed citizen should ignore the establishment’s policy if they legally can.
With all that said, I just want to be clear. I don’t believe the government should be forcing private business whether they must or must not allow firearms in their establishment. Just like I don’t believe the government should be able to dictate what (or how many) firearms, accessories, or ammunition law abiding citizens may own. But I do think the battle between gun control and gun rights is intensifying and we need to be more active.
Besides what I do personally to support gun rights and advocacy groups, I am committing to using at least 10% of all profits generated by this blog (advertising, commissions, etc.) to supporting gun (and hunting) rights and their advocacy groups (although revenue generated is still not enough to cover month to month operating expenses). If you’d like to help me do that, then I’d encourage you to become a patron over on Patreon, or use these links to buy ammo at Lucky Gunner or gear at Concealment Solutions. If you’d like to get directly involved in the fight, then I’d encourage to become a member or make a donation to one or more of the following gun rights groups:
Time was when asking people not to bring a gun into your business didn’t count as pandering to anybody. That was when the NRA had doubled itself down to infinity.