3 gun
Member
Group carries cause to an extreme
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Ohioans for Concealed Carry PAC is an organiza tion of gun-toting activists who believe that well-dressed citizens should accessorize their wardrobes with loaded weapons.
A 9 mm pistol goes beautifully with camouflage fatigues, which are the rage nowadays. But what do you carry when you're strolling the boulevard or just having a bite at that popular greasy spoon?
Just a minute, pardner. Some restaurants, movies and other businesses are discriminating against people who carry guns - no matter how well they're dressed.
Yes, that's true. Apparently some businesses don't want people with guns rubbing elbows with their unarmed customers and employees. So they post signs asking everyone to leave their weapons elsewhere.
Even though the state last month began issuing permits for citizens to wear weapons under their clothes, a provision in the new law allows businesses to effectively outlaw guns in their establishments.
The signs started sprouting everywhere, seemingly overnight, after the concealed-carry law went into effect on April 8. There's even one at the entrances to The Plain Dealer.
Jim Irvine, a spokesman for Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said the Cleveland-based political action committee wants to send a message to those businesses.
"We want them to know that they're losing a valuable customer," he said, adding that people with gun licenses are among the most law-abiding people in the country. "They're the next best thing to having a law enforcement officer in a store, God forbid something does happen."
The group posted a "Do Not Patronize While Armed" list on its Web site. More than 300 Ohio businesses are named. More are added every day, when members notice a sign and e-mail the store's location to the group.
Of course, The Plain Dealer made the list. As did the Rock Hall, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and all Fifth Third Bank offices. So many hospitals made the list, it's "too numerous to itemize" them all, the site said.
Few businesses seem fazed at being targeted.
"We're a museum with families and young children in an atmosphere that's not conducive to people carrying guns," said Jack Horrigan, vice president of communications at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. "So far, nobody's complained."
Irvine claims what his members are doing isn't a boycott. Instead, he said, it's a public-awareness campaign, letting his heat-packing friends know where their money isn't wanted.
"The purpose of the Do Not Patronize While Armed list is to assist these stores," Irvine wrote on the Web site. "We wish to help [concealed-gun holders] know to stay away while armed, which is exactly what the stores are communicating on their signs."
But to make sure the businesses feel the pain, the PAC is selling "No Guns - No Money" cards - 10 for $2 - and asking members to pass them out where they see signs prohibiting guns.
"Deliver these to store managers and owners of these businesses to let them know they have just lost a customer," the Web site said.
While I detest everything Ohioans for Concealed Carry stands for, I agree wholeheartedly with its boycott. If those card-carrying, gun-toting folks hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known where to shop to avoid them.
I feel safer armed with that knowledge. Don't you?
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
[email protected], 216-999-5250
Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
LINK
Here is the letter I sent into the paper as a reply.
Another column in the Plain Dealer with an anti gun slant. When a store posts a no CCW sign on their door it is not a boycott when the law abiding gun owner goes elsewhere to spend their money. But lets think about this for one minute. By posting such a sign the business owner is turning away someone who has had a criminal background check done by the Sheriffs office. Has no history of violence, mental illness or drug abuse. Has taken a firearms class equal to the requirements of the armed guard the store may employ and has the disposable income to buy a handgun costing hundreds of dollars. This is the person they are turning away. Does this really sound like the kind of person you wouldn't want to have in your store? What do they know about the person who isn't turned away by the sign?
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Ohioans for Concealed Carry PAC is an organiza tion of gun-toting activists who believe that well-dressed citizens should accessorize their wardrobes with loaded weapons.
A 9 mm pistol goes beautifully with camouflage fatigues, which are the rage nowadays. But what do you carry when you're strolling the boulevard or just having a bite at that popular greasy spoon?
Just a minute, pardner. Some restaurants, movies and other businesses are discriminating against people who carry guns - no matter how well they're dressed.
Yes, that's true. Apparently some businesses don't want people with guns rubbing elbows with their unarmed customers and employees. So they post signs asking everyone to leave their weapons elsewhere.
Even though the state last month began issuing permits for citizens to wear weapons under their clothes, a provision in the new law allows businesses to effectively outlaw guns in their establishments.
The signs started sprouting everywhere, seemingly overnight, after the concealed-carry law went into effect on April 8. There's even one at the entrances to The Plain Dealer.
Jim Irvine, a spokesman for Ohioans for Concealed Carry, said the Cleveland-based political action committee wants to send a message to those businesses.
"We want them to know that they're losing a valuable customer," he said, adding that people with gun licenses are among the most law-abiding people in the country. "They're the next best thing to having a law enforcement officer in a store, God forbid something does happen."
The group posted a "Do Not Patronize While Armed" list on its Web site. More than 300 Ohio businesses are named. More are added every day, when members notice a sign and e-mail the store's location to the group.
Of course, The Plain Dealer made the list. As did the Rock Hall, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and all Fifth Third Bank offices. So many hospitals made the list, it's "too numerous to itemize" them all, the site said.
Few businesses seem fazed at being targeted.
"We're a museum with families and young children in an atmosphere that's not conducive to people carrying guns," said Jack Horrigan, vice president of communications at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. "So far, nobody's complained."
Irvine claims what his members are doing isn't a boycott. Instead, he said, it's a public-awareness campaign, letting his heat-packing friends know where their money isn't wanted.
"The purpose of the Do Not Patronize While Armed list is to assist these stores," Irvine wrote on the Web site. "We wish to help [concealed-gun holders] know to stay away while armed, which is exactly what the stores are communicating on their signs."
But to make sure the businesses feel the pain, the PAC is selling "No Guns - No Money" cards - 10 for $2 - and asking members to pass them out where they see signs prohibiting guns.
"Deliver these to store managers and owners of these businesses to let them know they have just lost a customer," the Web site said.
While I detest everything Ohioans for Concealed Carry stands for, I agree wholeheartedly with its boycott. If those card-carrying, gun-toting folks hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known where to shop to avoid them.
I feel safer armed with that knowledge. Don't you?
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
[email protected], 216-999-5250
Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
LINK
Here is the letter I sent into the paper as a reply.
Another column in the Plain Dealer with an anti gun slant. When a store posts a no CCW sign on their door it is not a boycott when the law abiding gun owner goes elsewhere to spend their money. But lets think about this for one minute. By posting such a sign the business owner is turning away someone who has had a criminal background check done by the Sheriffs office. Has no history of violence, mental illness or drug abuse. Has taken a firearms class equal to the requirements of the armed guard the store may employ and has the disposable income to buy a handgun costing hundreds of dollars. This is the person they are turning away. Does this really sound like the kind of person you wouldn't want to have in your store? What do they know about the person who isn't turned away by the sign?
