Should People Have Guns at Starbucks?

A typical frustration at starbucks is when the guy next to you is hogging the electrical outlets. But what if he openly wore a gun, like someone lost from a Clint Eastwood set? What would you do: take a seat next to him or get that cappuccino to go?

The patrons of at least five Starbucks locations in California's Bay Area have faced this dilemma in recent weeks. Gun owners have walked into various Starbucks--including in liberal enclaves like San Francisco, San Jose and Cupertino (the home of Apple)--openly wearing weapons while they drink their coffee.

You might not think you would need to be armed to order a latte, but the Bay Area gun owners--who are loosely affiliated with a website called OpenCarry.org--are hoping to draw attention to what they see as a Second Amendment guarantee: the right to carry a gun without fear that it will be confiscated. In at least three states--including, oddly, Texas--it is illegal to carry a gun openly. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in McDonald v. Chicago, a case that will decide whether state and local gun-control ordinances violate the Second Amendment. The court is expected to rule on the case before the Justices adjourn in June for the summer. In the meantime, gun advocates and opponents are fixed with anticipation and worry--hence the OpenCarry.org demonstrations of firepower.

But why California, and why Starbucks? According to OpenCarry.org co-founder John Pierce, his group didn't formally organize the Starbucks displays. Rather, he says, gun-rights advocates who use his site to plan meet-ups decided to highlight what they see as shortcomings in California's gun laws. The state does have a rather strange--and among the 50 states, unique--law: you can carry a gun openly in California, but it can't be loaded. Every other state that allows you to carry a gun openly also allows it to be a functioning weapon, one that actually has bullets. (See map below.)

Starbucks, which has been the target of similar pro-gun displays in other states, finds itself caught in the middle. The company issued a statement saying that "the political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores." Gun opponents want Starbucks to exercise its legal authority to ban gun displays on its property, as Peet's Coffee & Tea and California Pizza Kitchen have done. "Guns are not protest signs," says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. But because California law prohibits openly carried guns from being loaded, they do seem more like symbols than weapons. Which gun-control proponents might regard as a kind of victory: the guns at Starbucks are no more potent than the espresso.