Mon., July 29, 2013: We are concerned and angry that management at Starbucks headquarters is approving plans for armed gun advocates to rally in its stores across the country, including a meeting this past weekend inside a Sioux Falls store. Starbucks management at headquarters and in-state approved the meeting in advance, but did not notify customers, who were understandably alarmed when more than 60 gun advocates – armed with everything from handguns to semi-automatic rifles to shotguns – were welcomed inside the store (http://tinyurl.com/k536u35).

In the past, Starbucks has taken a ‘neutral’ position on gun-related issues, claiming their policy to allow loaded weapons inside stores is based on local laws and statutes. However, that ‘neutral’ position was shattered when both national and local Starbucks management approved this past weekend’s in-store rally. Gun advocates (opencarry.org) have begun using Starbucks as a common meeting destination across the country because they are able to bring loaded weapons inside. A similar meeting by the same group is being planned for Wed., July 31, 2013, at a Starbucks in Seattle at 1st and Pike.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is calling on Starbucks to stop allowing these armed meetings inside stores, and to immediately ban guns from all of its stores in all states. Starbucks has the legal right to prohibit firearms in its stores in the interest of its customers’ safety, but has chosen not to do so, despite the shootings and shooting deaths that have taken place inside Starbucks. It is time for Starbucks to walk the talk as a company that claims to be committed to corporate responsibility, and to take the safety of our children and families as seriously as mothers do.

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