Safeway (sic)

C

Coinneach

Staff Alumnus
Safeway
3275 W. Colorado Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Attn: Robert Harold

10 July 1999

Mr. Harold:

I have shopped regularly at your store for nearly a year. Every time I have patronized your store, I have been armed. I carry a firearm for my own protection, because the police are not capable of protecting me, nor are they required to, according to the US Supreme Court.

I have had many conversations with your clerks in which they thanked me for carrying, since they know that the presence of firearms prevents crime far more than that presence encourages it (see "More Guns, Less Crime," by John Lott). Simply, while I'm in your store, you won't be robbed. I carry openly, with no attempt at concealment, which is legal in El Paso County. My sidearm remains in its holster, I don't carry in a threatening manner, and I'm polite and courteous to your employees and other customers.

So imagine my surprise when I was approached this afternoon by a County deputy sheriff and an off-duty fireman and advised to leave my firearm outside when I patronize your store in the future.

The deputy asked me why I carry. I replied, "Because protecting me isn't your responsibility; it's mine." He nodded, and stated that since your store has been robbed several times recently, some of your employees have become extremely nervous about people carrying guns. Therefore, I should leave my gun in my vehicle while I'm shopping.

Is disarming your good customers really a solution, or would it simply make things worse? Don't you think that word is going to get out that your store is a soft target BECAUSE you disarm your customers?

I realize that, since yours is a private operation on private property, you have the absolute right to disarm your customers. Accordingly, I have the right to spend my money elsewhere, and I will exercise that right. You have lost a faithful customer, Mr. Harold, and I will advise my armed friends to avoid your store as well.

Sincerely,
/s
Coinneach Fitzpatrick

------------------
You can't get something for nothing,
You can't have freedom for free.
--Neil Peart
 
Coinneach, I applaud you and your letter. I have done the same with seveal of our local gunshops who have posted signs stating that Concealed Weapon Permits were not honored in their stores.

I don't sepnd my money where I am not wanted. I have a couple of gunshops/stores I get to that don't care if you are carrying as long as you don't threaten anyone with your pistol (either by intent or accident).

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Texas, of course, is a concealed-only carry state. We have the same problem of various businesses with signs saying, "Don't carry here."

So, one thing which seems to be an attention-getter is the quiet statement (or card, from some folks) to the effect, "I thank you for assuming all tort liability responsibility for my safety while on your premises."

Some chains (!) and others have re-thought their position, vis a vis concealed carry.

And, after all, if you're doing it properly, who will know?
 
What you should do - is have all your gun toting friends sign copies of that letter as well - and have them get there friends to do the same. So as a result, Harold will see he did not lose 1 customer, but just lost 30.
Also tell him that you guys would return if he invited them back saying his stores policy was wrong, and please forgive him of his ignorance.

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Every man Dies.
Not Every Man Truely Lives...
FREEDOM!

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
 
When was the last time a bad guy walked into a store with a gun opnely on his hip in a holster and robbed it? Very simply: They don't! It's not the guns they see that they have to worry about, it's the ones they don't see until it is in their face. That is really silly to be afraid of the people that walk in with guns on their hips. People like that simply don't rob stores.
One of my buddies made a comment once when we were in a convenience store and they were nervous of our openly carried guns: "why would I take my $800 Colt .45 and use it to rob this store, get $40 from the teller and then get my gun taken away when I am arrested?" Good guys asre good guys through and through. they don't just suddenly get the urge to rob a place, take their legally carried gun off their hip, and stick the place up.
They are obviously disarming all the wrong people. The irony is, they will go through the trouble of telling all openly armed people not to come in armed, and then one day a month later the usual bad guy is going to walk in with a gun in his pocket right past everyone and right past all their signs saying "no guns allowed" to the cashier and hold the place up.



[This message has been edited by thaddeus (edited July 14, 1999).]
 
Kodiac,

Good points, but the letter has already been printed and mailed. Hopefully, Mr. Harold will reconsider his position without further prompting.

------------------
You can't get something for nothing,
You can't have freedom for free.
--Neil Peart
 
I can honestly say that none of my customers have ever been robbed while I have been there servicing their businesses! :)

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John/az

"They come, they eat, they leave...
"They come, they eat, they leave...NOT!!

Bill Clinton (aka: Hopper) Al Gore (aka: Molt) Janet Reno (aka: Thumper)

Ants UNITE!
 
>>>>Is disarming your good customers really a solution, or would it simply make things worse? Don't you think that word is going to get out that your store is a soft target BECAUSE you disarm your customers?<<<<<

I would think that a letter to the editor of several local papers prominently asking that question (and advertising that policy) might get the attention of the manager and the corporate lawyers.
I think you'd soon see a reply that "it was all a misunderstanding" and that Safeway WELCOMES honest folks with guns.





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Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan
 
Keith,

There are only two local papers here, the Gazette and the Independent. The Gazette is strongly pro-gun. The Indy is so left-wing they make WJC look like Rush Limbaugh.

I might just send a copy of the letter to the Gazette. They've published my letters before (so has the Indy, but nothing about guns), so there's a chance.

------------------
You can't get something for nothing,
You can't have freedom for free.
--Neil Peart
 
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