- Updated September 18, 2013, 7:40 p.m. ET
請顧客不要戴槍上Starbucks而已 :誰是顧客
On
September 17th Howard Schultz, who heads Starbucks, released an open
letter to customers in America containing a "respectful request that
customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating
areas." His letter was polite, thoughtful, even-handed and thorough. Cue
the predictable outrage from commenters on Mr Schultz's letter and
articles reporting his request http://econ.st/18CK8Ee
Starbucks Declares Guns Unwelcome, but Doesn't Ban Them
CEO Letter Thrusts Coffee Chain Deeper Into Debate Over Gun Owners' Rights to Carry Firearms in Restaurants
Starbucks Corp.
SBUX +1.70%
on Wednesday asked gun owners to stop bringing their weapons into its
cafés, thrusting the coffee giant deeper into a national debate over
firearms that has proven vexing for retailers and other businesses.
The
request, made in an open letter from Chief Executive Howard Schultz,
was a response to intensifying pressure on the company for allowing
customers to openly carry weapons in states that permit it. Gun control
advocates had criticized the company for its laissez-faire stance, while
gun rights advocates had lauded its position.
In his written appeal, posted Tuesday night on the Starbucks website,
Mr. Schultz said the tussle, exploited by both sides of the gun issue,
has "become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening." 英文說明:
tussle
Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz
issued an open letter asking customers not to bring firearms into its
stores, responding to growing pressure from both sides of the gun debate
over its policies. Julie Jargon reports on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty
Images.
AP
Open carry gun advocates walk
up Minnesota Avenue to Starbucks July 27, 2013, in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota at a walk organized by Open Carry South Dakota.
"For these reasons, today we are respectfully
requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or
outdoor seating areas—even in states where "open carry" is
permitted—unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel," Mr.
Schultz wrote in the letter. Starbucks plans to publish the appeal in
newspaper advertisements Thursday.
The carefully calibrated statement
stopped short of banning guns—as a handful of other retailers have
done—at Starbucks's more than 11,000 outlets in the U.S. Mr. Schultz
said he wants "to give responsible gun owners the chance to respect our
request" and doesn't want to put employees in the position of
confronting armed customers. Starbucks doesn't plan to post signs in its
stores asserting its position, a spokesman said.
Still, it prompted fresh argument, winning plaudits from gun control
advocates and caused some gun-rights advocates to vow they'll get their
java elsewhere. Starbucks has "great coffee, but I'm going to be looking
for an equivalent," said David Butler, a 56-year-old family physician
in Austin, Texas.
Steve LaBadessa
Starbucks has been at the
center of the debate for years. A gathering of 'open carry' advocates at
a Starbucks in Antioch, Calif., in 2011.
Mr. Schultz's letter followed Monday's
shooting rampage by a former Navy reservist at the Washington Navy Yard
that killed 12 victims—the latest of several mass shootings over the
past year that have intensified the debate over guns. In the interview,
Mr. Schultz said his letter wasn't a reaction to the tragedy.
"This is an issue we've been wrestling with for a very long time,"
Mr. Schultz said in an interview. "I don't think most people expect to
see someone walk into a Starbucks with a gun, let alone understand that
it's legal to do so in most states… We're not anti- or pro-gun, but we
don't believe guns should be part of the Starbucks experience."
Most states allow at least some citizens to carry firearms openly: 29
have no rules prohibiting it, and 15 allow it for those with permits.
California allows open carry only in rural areas.
Only five states, plus Washington D.C., explicitly prohibit guns from
being openly displayed in public—although local governments in some of
the rest of the country also have stricter rules.
Many local governments already restrict people from bringing
concealed guns into venues that sell alcohol. Last week, Chicago
adopted a ban on concealed weapons in all bars and restaurants that sell
liquor.
But others have moved in the opposite direction. In July, North
Carolina's governor signed a bill allowing people with concealed-carry
permits to bring their guns into bars and restaurants that don't
expressly forbid it—a practice that had been previously excluded under
its concealed carry law.
For retailers, the issue poses a difficult dilemma. While private
businesses are free to bar guns from their premises, only a handful of
big chains actually do so, including
Costco Wholesale Corp.,
COST +0.62%
CVS Pharmacy, and Chuck E. Cheese's.
Corbis
Last month, gun-rights activists gathered at a Starbucks in Newtown, Conn., a town ravaged by gun violence.
"Costco does not believe that it is
necessary for firearms to be brought into its warehouse stores, except
in the case of authorized law enforcement officers," the company states
on its website.
Many retailers, such as McDonald's Corp., Dunkin Brands Inc. and
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., allow guns where permitted by state law, but some
struggle with competing customer demands.
"It can be disconcerting to guests and employees who are not familiar
with the law to see someone carrying a firearm," says Travis Doster,
spokesman for steak chain
Texas Roadhouse Inc.
TXRH -0.27%
He said guests with children sometimes complain to restaurant managers when they see people with guns.
Reuters
Starbucks has more than 11,000 outlets in the U.S., ranking it among the country's biggest retailers.
AP
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz speaks at the company's annual shareholders meeting March 20, 2013, in Seattle, Wash.
Mr. Schultz, in the interview, said the
gun question had become "much more acute this summer with groups on
both sides using Starbucks as a staging ground for their own
positioning, and that resulted in the marketplace mischaracterizing us
as being on one side of the issue or the other."
Gun-advocacy groups recently have held "Starbucks Appreciation Days"
around the country, encouraging people to visit Starbucks with guns
openly displayed.
John Pierce, co-founder of opencarry.org, a social media
portal for the open-carry movement, said that embracing Starbucks
helped ensure the cause received attention.
"There has been a lot of effort by the gun rights movement to frame
this as a civil rights issue rather than a partisan issue, and the fact
that Starbucks, which is seen a liberal leaning corporation, was
adopting a very sane tone on the issue was seen as something positive."
Mr. Pierce described the company's new stance as disappointing, and said it had "buckled to pressure."
Last month, a gun rights group in Connecticut used social media to
urge gun owners to bring their weapons to a gathering at a Starbucks in
Newtown, Conn.—the same city where a gunman killed 20 students and six
adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. Starbucks
temporarily closed the store before the scheduled event; activists
gathered outside.
A group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which
formed after the Sandy Hook shooting, countered by organizing "Skip
Starbucks Saturday," urging mothers to show up at stores weekly to tell
customers about the company's lack of a gun ban.
The group says it has collected approximately 60,000 signatures for a
petition urging Starbucks to ban guns and was planning to deliver it to
Starbucks's Seattle headquarters. Organizers say the group will now
hold off.
Mr. Schultz's statement is "a huge win," said Shannon Watts, founder
of the moms group. "If people continue to be disruptive and open carry I
am confident they will not let them in their stores and take action.
And if they don't we will come back at them full force."
—Ana Campoy, Paul Ziobro, and Allison Prang
contributed to this article.
監聽風暴擴大，抗議民眾丟鞋砸黃世銘等人的照片。
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Burger King Worldwide Inc.
