Some shoppers do a double take (March 5)
A few years ago, when Mrs. Doud and I were living in Prescott Valley, Ariz., I happened to find myself in a supermarket, in the fruit- and-vegetable section, a few days after we had settled in our new hometown.
I noticed the man with the gun right away.
He was dressed like a cowboy on his way to church, and he was checking out canteloupes, thumping on them and sniffing at the place where the stem had been, just like our moms taught us to do.
The gun on his hip, which he wore in a leather holster, was a big 45-caliber revolver, the kind you would see John Wayne or Dirty Harry shoot in the movies. Because it was a revolver, I could see it was loaded.
I didn’t want to stare at the guy, so I watched him out of the corner of my eye. Had he been wearing a badge, I wouldn’t have given his gun a second thought, but he seemed to be a civilian. It made me nervous.
I went on with my shopping. When I got to the checkstand, there he was again, in front of me.
“What if he pulls that gun on the cashier and holds up the grocery store?” I thought to myself. I looked around for something to crawl under.
But he didn’t do that. He exchanged pleasantries with the clerk, who wished him a good day, and off he went with his groceries.
“Did you see that guy had a gun?” I asked the clerk.
“Sure,” she said.
“Did it make you nervous?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “A lot of people carry guns in Arizona. It’s perfectly legal. Besides, nobody is likely to hold up the store while he’s here.”
I remember this because people are openly carrying loaded guns into Starbucks stores around the country now, and they are welcome, apparently.
The Wall Street Journal reports the baristas aren’t steamed about it at all. The company says it follows state laws, wherever they are.
In California, you can carry, but the gun can’t be loaded.
The editorial (March 5) on citizens carrying guns was wrong in that in the body you wrote that the guns in Starbucks are loaded; but, as you state at the end, “In California, you can carry, but the gun can’t be loaded.”
I, too, lived in Arizona. I am sure the cowboy in Arizona had a fully loaded and ready-for-action firearm.
The open-carry folks in California would be looking for trouble.
Let’s say I am a gang member looking for a gun to give my partner in crime, or just collecting guns to sell on the street. What better place to find one than to follow somebody out of Starbucks with what is surely an unloaded gun on his hip, then take it away from him by pointing my illegal but loaded gun at him. It would be smarter to walk around with your money clip attached to your collar than to proudly display an unloaded gun available for the taking.
Until we find a way to take guns way from all criminals we as citizens need the right to carry loaded and ready-to-use firearms to protect ourselves.
Dale Drozen,
Coarsegold