“’We’re moving on from Starbucks to Staples,” Shannon Watts tells forbes.com. The biz mag describes Ms. Watts as the “founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group of 110,000 grassroots activists formed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Conn.” That would be the organization originally known as One Million Moms for Gun Control, a goal it failed to reach by well over 900k moms. Truth be told, Ms. Watt’s re-branded anti-gun org has 100k activists like I have a 11″ penis. Not that Forbes’ scribe Clare O’Connor is interested in either stat. She’s focused on mindlessly pimping Watts’ anti-gun agenda . . .
“Last month there was an accidental shooting at a Staples in North Carolina, and there have been other incidents of gun violence inside stores,” said Watts, who lobbied Starbucks and Schultz prior to their policy change.
“Staples allows individual stores to prohibit guns, but there is no explicit corporate policy banning firearms.”
The North Carolina Staples story Ms. Watts cited involved a negligent discharge, not “gun violence.” What other “incidents” is Ms. Watts referring to? Googling “Staples armed robbery store” (to avoid armed robberies in Staples, Texas) reveals plenty of firearms-related crime inside Staples. Here’s one example. And another. And another. Two more here. And so on.
Is that the gun violence Ms. Watts’ seeks to eliminate by forcing Staples to ban legally armed Americans from their store? What are the odds that making Staples into a “gun free zone” would stop its staff from facing armed robbers? Probably not as great as the odds of robbers thinking twice in stores where Americans are likely exercise their right to keep and bear arms. Care to compare armed robbery stats in New England Staples and those down South?
Moms Demand Action is putting pressure on Staples to enact a formal, nationwide no-guns rule in its 1,500-plus U.S. stores.
Watts sent a letter to Staples CEO Ronald Sargent in late September asking that the office supply chain act as a leader in prohibiting guns on its premises:
“More than 30 states allow citizens to legally buy and carry loaded weapons with no screening or training,” Watts wrote. “There is no guarantee that even a well-meaning individual knows how to properly carry and handle a gun.”
Which 30 states would that be? What kind of “screening and training” is Ms. Watts talking about? Why is the Forbes’ scribe giving the MDA matriarch a free pass on factuality?
This quote reveals Ms. Watts’ mission: civilian disarmament. If Staples should ban gun owners from its premises because “there is no guarantee that even a well-meaning individual knows how to properly carry and handle a gun” why shouldn’t every store in the U.S. do the same? Why allow legally armed Americans anywhere?
Watts noted that Staples is her group’s next target, but by no means its last.
“Obviously there are other companies we continue to target for pressure campaigns, including Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Cabela’s,” she said. “But they sell assault weapons. Companies like Staples should know better than to allow loaded guns inside their stores.”
And publications like Forbes should know better than to give voice to anti-gun agitators like Ms. Watts without some attempt to put their extremist views in context.