UPDATED: Big Win For Gun Control Groups: Target Bans Guns In Its Stores [View all]

[DonViejo]

Last edited Wed Jul 2, 2014, 01:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: TPM

ERIC LACH – JULY 2, 2014, 10:08 AM EDT

Target has finally made its decision about firearms in its stores. The retail giant is telling its customers to leave their guns at home.

"Our approach has always been to follow local laws, and of course, we will continue to do so," Target interim CEO John Mulligan said in a statement published by Target's in-house online magazine on Wednesday. "But starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law."

Mulligan acknowledged what he called a "complicated issue," but said that, ultimately, he believes that guns in the stores "creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create."

With the move, Target became the latest in a recent flurry of retail chains to ban guns in its stores. Target stores, particularly in Texas, had in recent months become the focus of both guns rights and gun control activists, and both sides had used the stores and their parking lots as stages for gatherings and demonstrations. The Michael Bloomberg-backed group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, which had been calling for Target to explicitly keep guns out of its stores, took credit for Target's decision on Wednesday.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/target-bans-guns

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UPDATE:

Gun Rights Activists Insist Target's Gun Ban Is 'Not A Ban'

ERIC LACH – JULY 2, 2014, 12:15 PM EDT

Dealt a loss by Target on Wednesday, gun rights activists were trying to find a consolation prize. The retail chain's newly announced policy asking customers to keep guns out of its stores is not a gun "ban," the activists said. It was a respectful "request."

"Open Carry Texas regrets Target's decision to 'respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target,'" Open Carry Texas, the group most associated with the fight over guns in chain stores, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. "While this is not a ban on legally possessed firearms in its stores, we will continue to honor our months long policy of not taking long arms into Target stores or any other business."

This is a distinction without a difference. In his statement on Wednesday, Target interim CEO John Mulligan said that the company had decided to "respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law," and further added that "bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create."

It is true that Open Carry Texas announced weeks ago that its members would no longer take long guns, like semiautomatic rifles, into corporate businesses unless they were invited to do so. The group had made a habit of stopping at chain restaurants during demonstrations, and the change came after several chains took steps similar to the one taken by Target on Wednesday.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/target-ban-open-carry-texas