The leadership team has been weighing a complex issue, and I want to be sure everyone understands our thoughts and ultimate decision.
As you’ve likely seen in the media, there has been a debate about whether guests in communities that permit “open carry” should be allowed to bring firearms into Target stores. Our approach has always been to follow local laws, and of course, we will continue to do so. But starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law.
We’ve listened carefully to the nuances of this debate and respect the protected rights of everyone involved. In return, we are asking for help in fulfilling our goal to create an atmosphere that is safe and inviting for our guests and team members.
This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create.
So now following in the footsteps of the Sonic and Chipotle restaurants Target is forced to make a request that they should never have had to formerly make.
Reasonable Americans would never have put any of these businesses in the position of having to ask them to do something that seems perfectly obvious to the majority of us.
I cannot quite wrap my mind around what the Open Carry protesters hoped to accomplish, but there is very little doubt that what they have accomplished is not helping their cause in the slightest.
Hey, Gryph, it's about damn time.
ReplyDeleteI'm old enough to remember:
No Shirt
No Shoes
No Service
And we're talking dicks with guns. Not hippies.
One giant step for the big box stores!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the ammosexuals should be taking their dollars to Chik-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby. They'll be welcomed with open arms (no pun intended)
ReplyDeleteSheesh
DEAR JOHN GRISHAM & DIM-WITTED OPEN CARRY,
ReplyDeleteI'd like to take a moment to thank you derps for forcing Chipotle, Jack In The Box, Starbucks and now a national chain TARGET to ask you to keep your dangerous weapons out of their stores. No doubt you've saved innocent people from getting killed from gun negligence.
We told you that you were in the minority and that this would happen. It did.
Sincerely,
AMERICANS WITH GUN SENSE
I agree wholeheartedly, the fact that Target has to even make the request speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteThese Open Carry wing nuts are the best thing that ever happened to those of us who prefer never to see a gun in public. Thank you, Open Carry. Your insistence on violating Americans' rights to feel safe in stores has now blown up in your unshaven faces. We don't care how many assault rifles you own. We don't care that you want to shoot us for disagreeing with you. We want to shop and eat in peace. So stay home. Go shoot each other. Play cowboys all you like. You are not welcome in my space.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sally, you speak for me.
DeleteExactly, Sally in MI. Besides our right to feel safe trumps their mistaken interpretation of the Second Amendment.
DeleteBeaglemom
Their in-your-face, antagonistic, threatening behavior has done more to increase support for gun control than anything, including the massacre at Sandy Hook.
DeleteThose of us who prefer to visit stores and restaurants without being confronted by AR-15s are grateful.
Taking bets for the state that has the first incident of the target logo on the outside of the building getting shot at. I say Texas.
ReplyDeleteThat isn't the issue. The issue now is criminals having the mentality that no one in target has a weapon and robbing (or worse) people.
DeleteTarget has excellent security in their stores. Many criminals have been apprehended there.
DeleteYou're joking, right??? I do merchandising work in a target in a major metro area- there is one loss prevention person in the store.
Delete1:31 -
DeleteSure, because the FIRST place a criminal bent on shooting people or pulling a major heist would go is Target.
Forget about convenience stores, gas stations, food delivery people, jewelry stores, banks, gun stores, and armored cars...I'm goin' to play shoot 'em up at my nearest department store!
(I suppose there's a certain advantage to robbing a place where you can pick up a package of socks or a flashlight during the robbery.)
OK, 12:41 here to clarify my remarks. I am in Texas, only a couple suburbs away from the Open Carry group that has most frequently been in the news and I saw pictures of them proudly carrying their guns in Target after Chipotle and Chili's said they were not welcome. Now that Target has (admirably) joined the same club, I just meant that one of these yahoos might drive through the parking lot very late at night after the store is closed and take a couple potshots at the logo. I hope they do not, but at this point it really wouldn't surprise me.
DeleteThanks, Target. I will shop at your stores again.
ReplyDeleteNext up: Hobby Lobby. Let the Boycott begin.
Haven't shopped in Hobby Lobby in a couple of years since I found out what kind of people own the company.
DeleteSO Dangerous of them. DUDE. TARGET!!! NOW, every criminal will know no one in Target has a weapon and they will TARGET them.
ReplyDeleteSMDHHHHH
In my state, unless a business posts a no-concealed weapons sign, people can bring in any firearm that's covered by clothing.
DeleteSarah and Bristol are going to be so mad ya'll.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vox.com/2014/7/2/5865181/a-rare-abortion-rights-victory-missouri-gov-vetoes-72-hour-waiting?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_name=share-button&utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=article-share-top
O/T - You may already have seen this, but if not ~~ something I thought you might like to see re. Dan Sullivan:
ReplyDeleteSenate candidate Dan Sullivan says he passed 'stand your ground' in Alaska. We say FALSE.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/jul/02/dan-sullivan/senate-candidate-dan-sullivan-says-he-passed-stand/
I'm glad that Target made the decision to support safety in their stores.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
I cannot quite wrap my mind around what the Open Carry protesters hoped to accomplish,
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------
I have no doubt that they are trying to start a fashion trend. Don't laugh, they want guns slung over everyone's shoulder to be the norm. They REALLY want to be able to walk around like they are in a video game.
No kidding. Who's to know if an armed person is going in to kill or just carrying. Scary.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't the carrying be stopped and asked for papers. I think this would deter carrying to stores. Just like immigrants in AZ.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one response? No-shit, Sherlock. "At odds with the family (no hyphen necessary) friendly" atmosphere."?
ReplyDeleteI haven't stopped by much lately because I've been fighting the good fight on Target's FB page for the last 3 weeks. I posted this on Target's FB page along with a photo:
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that John Grisham and his Tac Tards ruined things for all responsible gun owners including concealed carry. The NRA took them back too quick and in the end it backfired.
YOU MIGHT BE A TAC TARD IF . . .
1. That 7 pound AR you bought now weighs 10 ½ pounds due to all the gizmos and gadgets you’ve stuck on it.
2. When getting ready for a date you can’t decide which pair of tactical pants to wear.
3. You own a bayonet for your pistol.
4. For Christmas this year you gave every member of your family their own personal bug-out bag.
5. You’ve never shot a gun when you weren’t wearing tactical gloves.
6. You never use that clip-on knife in your pocket because you don’t know how to sharpen it.
7. You spend more money on guns & gear than you do on training and practice.
8. Your idea of firearms training is watching Rob Pincus talk about guns on TV.
9. The last actual violence that you witnessed was when you back-talked your mother. You ate the spinach anyway.
10. You use your pistol laser to tease your dog.
11. The only man to ever cause you physical pain was the guy who gave you that silly tattoo.
12. Your dresser drawer is full of cam underwear.
13. You consider a "bump in the night" a good thing.
14. You use your pistol-mounted light to see what your buddy is doing.
15. Tucking in your family at night is considered lockdown.
16. Everyone at the local range avoids you.
17. Your wife constantly tells her friends and family, “He’s really harmless.”
I'm happy they did this. I understand the need to be "respectful" and careful with words so as not to offend potential customers, but for once in my life, I'd like to see a company say "Fuck Off, Gun Nuts".
ReplyDeleteI've been driving for years to work on the same highway, there's an old abandoned building that was painted gray, today I noticed it's covered with grafitti, racial slurs, and neo nazi symbolism and it's shot up like swiss cheese. We're talking about the suburbs of Philly in Montgomery county. They're everywhere!
Most (all?) open-carry states give businesses the right to ban firearms on their premises. I may be dense but Target seems to have stopped short of saying they won't allow customers to carry firearms in the stores.
ReplyDeleteOpen Carriers don't stand a prayer. If corporations don't want guns in their stores, all they have to do is go to the Texas legislature to get a bill passed. The Hobby Lobby ruling says that corporation rights supersede individual rights.
ReplyDeleteTarget really wimped out on this. They should just say no, instead of "oh, please, kindly sirs!"
ReplyDelete