(Mods, this is technically a poll but if(when?) the discussion degenerates, move as needed)
In a couple of gun threads, some people who carry have mentioned that they have forgone going places which don’t allow carry- to the general scorn and derision of anti-gunners. I was wondering to what extent the reverse is true: if you dislike or oppose carry, do you actively avoid places where carry is allowed or not explicitly forbidden? I remember the hullabaloo about Starbucks a few years back.
It’s not really something I pay enough attention to so that I’d even know what the law was.
I’ve worked throughout the USA and by sheer numbers I must have been in many places where it’s legal to carry guns.
I carry. I have no issue going places that allow me to come in. If I must go into a place that does not allow carry, I will lock my weapon in the car.
Given the choice between a restaurant that allows carry and one that is a gun free zone, I always choose the former even if I am not carrying.
Me, also. I very seldom actually carry, but there would have to be a compelling reason to patronize a place that explicitly forbade it.
I don’t carry but I have no problem with people who do. Unless they’re assholes.
This really isn’t something I think about, ever. It’s bizarre to me that it’s even a concern to anyone, on either side of it.
I usually carry. When I run into a sign prohibiting guns, it’s a bit of a pain in the ass because I have to go back to the car and put my gun in the safe. I might take that into account the next time I choose a restaurant or whatever. I wouldn’t refure to go there.
I don’t fall on either end of the gun spectrum so I’ve never even thought about this issue.
The double negative of the sentence seems convoluted. Isn’t asking if you refuse to go places where gun carrying isn’t banned essentially the same as asking if you only go places where gun carrying is banned? And is that really a possibility? Are there enough places that ban gun carrying to allow a person to only go to those places and still function in normal living?
For example, I was just out on a trip in town. I stopped at my doctor’s office, a halloween store, and Walmart - and I have no idea what the gun carrying policy was at any of these places. How are you supposed to know what a business’ gun carrying policy is? I suppose you could ask but I’ve never seen anyone doing that.
I’m in the military, so the sight of people carrying guns openly is a bit normalized for me. I do tend to take notice of folks who are openly carrying though (I live in Wyoming, where it isn’t weird to see someone with a pistol strapped to their hip while shopping at Wal-Mart. I’m far more bothered by the uncivilized habit that many Wyomingites have of wearing hats indoors). Have yet to see folks walking around with rifles slung over their shoulders about town as if expecting an antelope or Chinese paratrooper to come sprinting out of the housewares section.
Really, whether or not I’d do business at a place that allowed carrying of firearms would depend more on their clientele than anything else. If the folks there are polite and just going about their business, I’m fine. If they’re loud and making a fuss, I’d probably leave.
Living in Texas, I’m sure I must be around people carrying guns often.
I’ve never owned or even wanted a gun in my life, but I’m not afraid of being shot in day to day life, nor do I feel reassured when I enter a place that advertises itself as a gun-free zone.
I live in CA for many reasons - one of them is the lack of allowing open carry.
I don’t like guns, I don’t want to be around them, full stop. The times that I have been to friends’ house when I know they have guns, I’ve been nervous just being there - I would rather have them over to my house.
So yeah, given the option of patronizing a business that encouraged/allowed open carry vs one that expressly prohibited it, I would go with the latter. If a business specifically encouraged it, I would not patronize them at all.
Sorry, the double-negative is a little clumsy, but I guess I was thinking of my state of Minnesota’s carry rules. In MN carry is presumed to be allowed anywhere it isn’t explicitly banned. A permit holder carrying can’t be charged with trespass unless they were given prior notice verbally or by sign that guns aren’t allowed on the property. So a business that doesn’t want carry on the premises has to take active steps to ban it. YMMV depending on your state gun laws of course.
What made me think of this thread was an ongoing controversy about the legal status of the Minnesota State Fair. All public property except for listed exceptions (courthouses, etc.) is open to carry; for purposes of banning carry the Fair claims to be a private entity- despite it’s obvious government links. Their motive is claiming that attendance would be badly hurt if carry wasn’t banned from the fairgrounds. I was wondering just how likely that was to be true.
I’m pretty anti-gun, but honestly I never really think about it. I would probably avoid a *person *who was openly carrying, though.
If I would see people open carrying as I entered, I would do a U turn and leave, never to return.
Does the Minnesota State Fair have alcohol?
The MN State Fair calls itself “quasi-governmental” and has no state funding, so they may or may not be pulling a fast one by claiming to be a private entity. The Boy Scouts of America have a federal charter but insist that they are a wholly private organization.
Where I live, guns being allowed is definitely the default assumption and so I have no problem at all going to a business that allows them. However, I think businesses that specifically put a big sign out front advertising the fact are pandering to a particular political group that I don’t really agree with, so I likely will take my business elsewhere if convenient.
On the other side, the only places that used to have “no weapons” signs were biker bars and such, and so I was amused when they started showing up at places like Starbucks.
Honestly? Depends on what country I’m in.
I would strongly prefer to do my shopping, dining and such in places without guns but I don’t proactively check the policy of businesses I patronize. If I did know a place a has a no gun policy it would certainly give them extra points when I’m deciding where to go.
I don’t see an option for me. I prefer not seeing guns, but I wouldn’t completely not go somewhere because they allow open carry. And if I know you don’t allow closed carry, I do feel a bit safer, and thus may patronize your business more.
It’s just a slight preference, not a boycott level thing.