Gun Ownership “Buycott”?

So, this is interesting. Apparently, some gun owners are launching not a boycott against Starbucks, but the opposite—a “buycott.” Calling it “Starbucks Appreciation Day,” they’re encouraging people to shop Starbucks in support of their policy of allowing customers to carry firearms wherever open carry laws allow it.

The buycott comes in response to a boycott by the National Gun Victims Action Council recently launched to encourage Starbucks to disallow weapons in their stores even where laws permit them, as some other retailers do.

 

Open carry laws vary widely from state to state (see the map above). Only ten states have “permissive” open carry laws, according to the group OpenCarry.org, and the rest have varying degrees of restrictions. (Hunting factors in heavily with those restrictions; often, visibly carrying a firearm is legal only when a hunt is in process.)

And not only do laws vary, but opinions and sentiments vary drastically—even among gun owners and Second-Amendment rights groups. Some grassroots groups support open carry enthusiastically, but the NRA has not been a very vocal supporter. Meanwhile, some individual gun owners offer nominal support to open carry, but simply prefer concealed carry.

In any case, we’ve never heard of a buycott before. It’ll be interesting to see how effective it is. What’s your take on all this? Let us know what you think.