In Columbus, Ohio, students promoting the right to carry guns at Ohio State University protested outside a Starbucks, carrying signs with such slogans as, “Because I CAN’T carry a cop,” the Lantern student newspaper reported.
BY KIM MURPHY | LOS ANGELES TIMES
SEATTLE — Those who prefer to drink their lattes packing protection on their hip turned out at Starbucks across the country on the first day of a “buycott” organized by gun owners — countering the Starbucks boycott called this month by the National Gun Victims Action Council.
The issue of Starbucks allowing gun owners to openly carry their weapons in states that have “open carry” laws has been simmering for years. The new boycott, which launched Tuesday, aims at persuading Starbucks to join a growing list of retail chains, including Peet’s Coffee, California Pizza Kitchen and IKEA, which prohibit guns even when they’re otherwise legal.
“Starbucks allowing guns to be carried in thousands of their stores significantly increases everyone’s risk of being a victim of gun violence,” Elliot Fineman, head of the Chicago-based council, said in a news release announcing the boycott.
Most of the visible action Tuesday seemed to be on the buycott side of things, though, as gun groups across the country urged their members to show up at Starbucks — not necessarily with their weapons — and spend.
Joe Huffman, a Seattle software engineer who writes a gun blog based in his native Idaho, reported he and his friends spent $131.64 at the Starbucks in Seattle’s main shopping district Tuesday.
“I wasn’t carrying a gun. I did have a jacket on that had an (National Rifle Association) life member patch,” Huffman said.
Similar “Starbucks Appreciation Day” demonstrations were reported in several states, including Hawaii, Tennessee and Michigan, as well as in several suburban communities around Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered.
In Columbus, Ohio, students promoting the right to carry guns at Ohio State University protested outside a Starbucks, carrying signs with such slogans as, “Because I CAN’T carry a cop,” the Lantern student newspaper reported.