The USAToday.com reports, “After months of wrangling over the highly emotional issue, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Wednesday announced that guns are no longer permitted in Starbucks stores — or in Starbucks outdoor seating areas.
Schultz made the comments in an open letter to his “Fellow Americans” that was posted on the company’s website.
In an interview with USA TODAY on Tuesday, Schultz said: “The presence of a weapon in our stores is unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers.”
But, to be clear, Starbucks will not slap an outright ban on guns, he says, because enforcing such a ban “would potentially require our partners to confront armed customers.”
Full-page newspaper advertisements announcing the change will appear in Thursday’s editions of USA TODAY, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
For Starbucks, which has been embraced by the gun lobby for permitting guns in stores in those parts of more than 40 states that allow them, it’s a major change of policy certain to have immediate blow-back from pro-gun enthusiasts…” Read more at www.usatoday
.com
Those who are not happy comment here:
“…The CEO of Starbucks Coffee shops has made a decision. He wants customers with the legal right to carry a gun to stay out o
f his coffee shops. But he lies when he says he is not anti-gun.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has made a policy decision saying that his company is “not a policy maker” and should not have to take any stance in the gun issue, whether pro or anti-gun. I agree with that, as it happens.
For the last few years Starbucks had become the locus of a tug of war between legal concealed carry permit holders and liberals. Both factions had held their “appreciation” days by showing up to tout their issues.” Click here for more
From Howard Schultz directly:
“…
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Posted by Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer
Dear Fellow Americans,
Few topics in America generate a more polarized and emotional debate than guns. In recent months, Starbucks stores and our partners (employees) who work in our stores have been thrust unwillingly into the middle of this debate. That’s why I am writing today with a respectful request that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas… The presence of a weapon in our stores is unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers…” Read the rest here