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Moms Demand Action Challenges Starbucks Policy on Guns

July 16, 2013

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By Nicole Pence – WTHR.com

22857463_BG1ZIONSVILLE – An Indiana woman is leading a charge to keep guns out a popular coffee shop.

Indiana law allows Hoosiers to legally carry a gun if they have a permit. A Zionsville mom says Starbucks should join other businesses to ban guns at their stores, regardless of the law.

“This picture of a man at Starbucks with his Glock and two cups of coffee and a scone,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Watts showed Eyewitness News a picture from a follower on Twitter who’s mad she’s asking Starbucks to change their gun policy.

“I did not realize that I was taking my kids to Starbucks and they could be standing next to someone with a loaded weapon,” said Watts.

The Zionsville native started the online organization days after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Moms Demand Action has 100,000 members in nearly 40 states.

The moms want increased background checks, assault weapons out of the hands of civilians, and ammunition purchase tracking.

Starbucks’ policy is to follow local law.

But other corporations like Disney, Target, and Toys R Us have their own set of rules that ban carrying guns on their property.

Watts said her group is targeting Starbucks and four other companies because they say it’s about corporate responsibility.

“Starbucks has banned smoking 25 feet outside stores. It is illegal to smoke 25 feet of the store and even with electronic cigarettes, yet they are allowing guns in the store. That’s hypocrisy,” Watts said.

Read the full story at WTHR.com

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