It's become a familiar routine on my Twitter feed; a group of "Open Carry" advocates, brandishing their weapons, enter a business. It's probably more a matter of bravado or a case of "because we can--we will".
The customers, rightly so, become frightened and they take to social media. Soon a group like Moms Demand Action and their allies start a campaign, hashtags like; #burritosnotbullets, directed at Chipotle, #shakesnotshotguns, directed at Sonic drive-ins or #ribsnotrifles, directed at Chili's start trending on Twitter.
The companies often get the message and request that customers leave their weapons at home, or in the car; Starbucks, Jack-In-The-Box and Chipotle have all done this. Open Carry Texas has begun to urge its members to stop bringing their weapons into businesses, perhaps because they realize that such shows of force are only helping to advance the cause of groups like Mom's Demand, etc.
I see what these companies are doing as part of a larger social effort, similar to what happened over time with smokers. As I have stated before, I see parallels between the gun lobby and the tobacco lobby. A product, essentially designed to kill, makes every effort to resist efforts to restrict it. They rely on political power and the power of their customers.
But overtime, a stigma becomes attached to the product. Using it becomes socially unacceptable, they are confined to certain sections, or are even barred totally.
With tobacco, the result is fewer and fewer people taking up the habit. We can only hope the same thing happens with firearms.
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