Unconcealed boycott
Private business more in 'right' than gun extremists
Gun enthusiasts do themselves more harm than good when they take extremist positions.
Like when they argue that the Founding Fathers intended the Second Amendment to protect people who want to own automatic weapons.
Or when they boycott businesses that don't feel comfortable allowing people to carry concealed weapons into their workplaces. And then claim violation of their constitutional rights for that, too.
Please.
Give them credit for being occasionally effective. We do have a concealed carry law in Kansas now, after all. But thoughtful people don't buy the rhetoric of Charlton Heston and his large following.
Business owners who want to post bans on concealed carry on their property shouldn't either.
As if it isn't enough that concealed carry was made the law of the land, the gun lobby now thinks private business can be bullied, too. It is happening right here in Hutchinson, where some are boycotting businesses that post signs prohibiting concealed carry on the premises. At least two businesses even were persuaded to take down the signs.
Actually, one of the arguments for not posting has some merit. A business owner almost could be persuaded that posting the sign won't keep out criminals bearing arms while it does stop the responsible permit-holders who might otherwise foil a crime.
But then the pro-gun folks shoot themselves in the proverbial foot when they go on to suggest that crooks might actually stake out a business and watch for customers who return to their cars to stow their guns.
Or, worse, when they say that the no-concealed carry sign tells them "that organization is against the Constitution of the United States, which gives us the right to bear arms."
Yes, the Constitution does give that right. But it also gives other individuals and property owners rights of their own. And nobody has the right to dictate how another person should feel about guns. Every individual - and business owner - has the right to feel uncomfortable about guns in his home or place of business.
The Second Amendment does not supersede a private business owner's right to prohibit guns.
Any consumer can choose where he wants to do business, for whatever goofy reasons on which he wants to base that choice.
But
spewing such utter nonsense about the Constitution, well maybe we should post signs prohibiting that, too. It is probably more dangerous than the guns.
02/18/2007; 02:39:30 AM