Starbucks - Where do *I* stand?

I stand with Tam and Jennifer. Mr. Schultz has, to my satisfaction, made it clear that I and many of those I count as friends and community are unwelcome in his establishments.

To honor his request I may either leave an unguarded firearm in a vehicle, venture forth from home unarmed, find a mythical convenient AND secure location - or I can simply refrain from darkening the door of his coffee shops. I would urge those who claim that CCW is a valid option to re-read his missive - while it mentions Open Carry several times, it requests that *all* weapons not be carried on Starbucks properties.

The responsible and polite choice that at the same time reflects my interest in my safety is that I not darken the door of Starbucks.

Happily enough, the sole reasons I again darkened the door of Starbucks after long absence was to offset any financial damages caused by their previous neutral position, and perhaps in my own small way reward them. On one occasion I did Open Carry (not my preferred mode, and pistol, thank you) in the spirit of "thank you for your civility," but that's a long long way from "protest" in my mind.

I am now relieved of the obligation to consume poorly brewed and over-roasted coffee concoctions dispensed at absurd prices accompanied by alleged pastries and supposed treats of ever less flavor and attractiveness out of some sense of "they are actually being civil, I should be grateful! And reward this!"

That the 2A community is so ostracized that we are pathetically grateful when a business simply refrains from kicking us in the teeth when we don't remain carefully closeted....sucks. But it's a space we get to go through as we meander back from a long cultural exile.

That said, I have no problem with the Open Carry community most of the time. But, guys'n'gals? We're still at the point in states where OC is legal that if you carry in that mode, you need to budget "diplomacy-time" to educate the ignorant and the frightened - to play ambassador to the mis-informed...and that's if you're carrying a handgun and not in "scare the undecided" full-bore camouflage (as Tam put it, "Battle of Falleujah" Re-enactors club drag) complete with a long-arm. It's going to be a LONG time before carrying a long arm in an urban environment is anything other than three-star dumb and grossly counterproductive.

In short, THAT ISN'T HELPING!

If you're going to Open Carry, recognize you have JUST volunteered to be the public face of the community - so don't screw it up for the rest of us.