Here’s a good example of someone that’s misinformed. See my comments in red inserted into the middle.
Posted on Fri, Feb. 16, 2007
Gun owners press Hutchinson stores to allow concealed weapons
Associated Press
HUTCHINSON, Kan. - When Kansas began allowing qualified citizens to carry concealed handguns, A.J. Conard posted a sign at her business prohibiting them. When two members of a gun club objected to the sign, she took it down.
A small victory - Conard says she had mistakenly thought the sign was required by law - but one that a handful of Hutchinson area gun owners hope to duplicate at other stores through boycotts.
Conard didn't want to lose potential customers. Her company, Apollo Engraving, happens to sell the signs, but Conard says they don't reflect her own sentiments about concealed guns.
"I do quite a bit of work for these gun people," she said. "That's money in my pocket. I'm not that afraid of people coming in with guns. I just turn myself and my employees over to the big man upstairs."
The 2006 concealed-carry statute specifically bans concealed guns in such places as courthouses, schools and churches, but it also lets businesses prohibit them by posting signs.
A recent count on a stretch of Hutchinson's Main Street found the signs in just 14 of more than 140 storefronts, The Hutchinson News reported. Several of those with signs were financial or medical offices.
Signs prohibiting concealed guns also are posted at entrances to the Hutchinson Mall. Mall manager Dan Flores said the decision was made by the corporate owner and there was no discussion among the merchants. But Flores supports the decision.
"Just look at what happened at the Trolley Center," he said, referring to a shooting this week at a Utah mall, where a teen killed five people. This guy is really screwed up. The shooter at the Utah mall did not have a carry permit and I really can’t believe that a cardboard sign would have changed his mind. The customer with the carry permit was credited with bringing the shooting spree to an early halt saving an unknown number of lives. Simply put, in this case that sign in the door would have gotten more folks killed that day and this guy wants to use the Utah example to support corporate banning guns from the mall he manages. Someone didn’t read and comprehend much past the headlines.
Hutchinson resident Don O'Neal - among the 132 Reno County residents who has applied for a permit - said he would stop buying tools at Sears, which has a store at the mall. And Tom McGuire said he'll only go to the mall now to visit the driver's license examiner's office.
"What that sign is telling the majority of us, myself in particular, is that organization is against the Constitution of the United States, which gives us the right to bear arms," O'Neal said.
Advocates of concealed carry also contend that criminals are likely to be attracted by the 8-by-8-inch, red-and-black signs barring hidden weapons.
"To get the permits, people must go through an extensive background check that goes back through their childhood," Tom Conway said. "You have to have a squeaky clean record. These are honest, law-abiding citizens.
"If you want to put up a sign that says 'no crooks or sleazebags or dishonest people,' it's going to be ignored," he added. "But crooks will see this sign and think, 'Great, I don't have to be concerned about law-abiding citizens.'"
At Egbert Liquor, manager Roy Freeman said an employee posted a sign in the store, and Freeman took it down.
"If they have a license to carry it, it doesn't bother me," Freeman said. "The guy coming to rob you isn't going to have a license. We're pretty much familiar with 90 percent of the clientele that comes through our door. That other 10 percent I don't know, if they're coming to rob us, I hope one of those carrying a concealed weapon will save our lives."
At Sunset Pawn and Jewelry, owner Ralph Thrash said he's taken grief from a number of customers, but he's keeping the signs up.
"Sometimes when I come down to the store at night I carry a weapon, but it's on my hip," Thrash said. "It's not concealed. I don't plan to get a concealed license.
"It's their right to carry," Thrash said. "And it's our right to say no."
AP Wire | 02/16/2007 | Gun owners press Hutchinson stores to allow concealed weapons