Here is to a bunch called, "Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America." Over the weekend they asked the Chipotle Mexican Grill chain to forbid firearms in their restaurants.
They didn't get an outright ban, however the Denver based corporation did issue a statement today which will touch a nerve. The company officially requested that all the Rambo wannabes out there leave their guns either at home, or in their cars before coming in for some frijoles.
According to Forbes the "Moms Demand Action" group was founded shortly after the Newtown, CT mass shooting. It is now being financed, at least in part, by Michael Bloomberg's $50 million investment in public safety which is meant to fight the NRA and their equally demented kin.
The Moms decided enough was enough this weekend because a rootin' tootin' gang calling itself, "Texas Open Carry," showed up at a Dallas area Chipotle's. They were armed to the teeth with semi automatic assault style weapons--which as we all know make those burritos just that much tastier.
The corporate statement, in part, read, "The display of firearms in our restaurants has now created an environment that is potentially intimidating, or uncomfortable for many of our customers."
Oh, you think?
Yes, there is nothing quite so relaxing as taking the kiddies into a place for tacos, then after the order arrives watching the entire business fill up with an unknown bunch of camo outfitted yahoos who have weapons which would make Boko, fucking, Haram envious.
A spokesperson for "Texas Open Carry" claimed his people weren't demonstrating, or otherwise attempting to make a point. He said they simply showed up for a meal after a group, "event." You bet, this grotesque display of machismo was just a merry mix up.
A "Moms Demand Action" spokesperson called Chipotle's statement "bold" and compared it to the open letter written by Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks coffee shops. In it Schultz wrote, "Pro gun activists have used our stores as a political stage for media events.....To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores." He went on to "respectively ask," NRA types not come onto any Starbucks' property while they're carrying a firearm, either concealed, or otherwise. In other words, if you're strapped, go to a Dunkin' Donuts.
Starbucks took their position in September of last year after some hot shot gun lovers wanted to conduct a well armed righ wing political coffee klatch at a store in the aforementioned Newtown, CT. You know--the place where 20 babies and 6 educators were murdered by Adam Lanza a mere 10 months before their scheduled get together.
It is unclear at this time if the group involved paid members of the Westboro Baptist Church a consulting fee for their brilliant and sensitive idea, but it certainly sounds like it came straight out of Fred Phelps' vile playbook. To his credit, Howard Schultz ordered the store to close temporarily rather than permit it.
The reason Mr. Schultz and ultimately Chipotle's "respectively asked" these goofs to leave the hardware at home, rather than banning all guns outright, is no doubt, inspired by the legal departments of both companies. To paraphrase a bit, Schultz said he's, "not comfortable" asking an employee to kick a bunch of gun totin' loons out of a store. Well, who can blame him? You can just imagine the law suits flying his way when a minimum wage barista gets riddled with bullets by some outraged Ted Nugent posse after he, or she orders them off the premises.
Don't think it wouldn't happen either. People who feel compelled to bring a Bushmaster .223 into a restaurant are the very definition of nuts.
You don't win many when you're up against the gun lobby and as we've found, in this country anyway, you'll never win big.
So, in the end, you take the small victories and run with them.
Today, at last, we got one of those.
Viva "Moms Demand Action" and Viva Chipotle's
5-20-14
No comments:
Post a Comment