CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — Groups of ‘concerned citizens’ are now proverbially up-in-arms about Chicago retailers that refuse to post ‘gun free zone’ signs in their businesses. Peaceful Communities in Northbrook and the Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs in Highland Park have both been very vocal activist groups charged with basically ethically extorting local businesses to comply with their daft-minded ideas. As Newsmax reports, most businesses could seem to care less.
“For two years, we’ve waited and hoped stores would act responsibly — and very, very few of them have on their own,” Lee Goodman, a protestor encouraging the signs, told the Tribune. “It seems to be that many stores think of it as a way of not taking a stand they see as political, which might alienate some of their customers.”
So, we’re to believe that if a group of people shows up to a person’s store and says, “paint your store zebra colors or else we’ll picket outside your business,” private businesses have any obligation to concede? More importantly, if I ever see a group of protesters picketing outside of a business because the store owner wouldn’t label his store as a ‘gun free zone’, I’d almost feel more obliged to shop there on principal alone.
It’s just one more ridiculous antic in a sea of anti-gun lunacy. As a concealed carrier, I don’t feel any safer having to disarm before I patronage a shop. If anything, now I have to worry my car is going to get broken into instead of focusing on the merchandise.
We knew there would be backlash when Chicago finally went partially ‘gun free’, but let’s be honest: one of the most violent cities in the United States already had plenty of problems before law-abiding citizens with concealed firearms showed up. If anything, it means people may actually have the means to defend their lives from criminals with illegally obtained firearms. That’s a reality we need to face as a country but unfortunately there are elements of our population that absolutely refuse to negotiate. And it’s good to see businesses standing up to them and not caving under pressure.
The right thing is to allow people to protect themselves. Those who would seek obstruct that are only limiting their place in that discussion.