Target Hates Freedom, Bans Gun Fondling In Stores

Yet another private business has decided it hates the 2nd Amendment and wants to be boycotted, just because some nervous-Nellie "moms" pressured the company to no longer allow open carry of firearms in their stores. Target Stores interim CEO John Mulligan announced today that while it will continue to comply with local laws,

"starting today we will also respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target -- even in communities where it is permitted by law.”

Because the chain had previously only said that it was governed by local regulations, Target had been targeted for demonstrations by jubilant open-carry yahoos, who now have a big sad and are already crying -- in the comments on the company's announcement -- that they're "going back to Target with my gun today and tomorrow and whatever days I want."

That's Kory Watkins of Open Carry Tarrant County, the group that has taken the lead in walking around Dallas-area fast food joints with semiautomatic rifles for Freedom. But that's OK, because now they've stopped doing that. Except that Kory Watkins pledges he's going today. Just not with a group.

The Target kerfuffle has been especially charming since some idiot left a loaded 9mm handgun in the toy aisle of a Target store in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, back at the end of May. Despite the predictable screams that the gun was left by an anti-gun activist as a false flag incident (everything is a false flag incident), nobody has yet been arrested in the incident, although local police identified a suspect, David Dennis, who is a convicted felon and should not have had a gun anyway, which really proves that gun laws don't ever work, and therefore you absolutely need your AR-15 with you whenever you step outside.

The Target announcement was beautifully mealy-mouthed, attempting to not be TOO offensive to gun-humpers, and utterly failing, because you simply cannot say anything suggesting anything negative about guns without being a goddamned commie who hates the only part of the Constitution that matters. Mulligan writes,

We’ve listened carefully to the nuances of this debate and respect the protected rights of everyone involved. In return, we are asking for help in fulfilling our goal to create an atmosphere that is safe and inviting for our guests and team members.

This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create.

It's "complicated"? You hate America and God, is what you mean, dude, and by declaring your store a gun-free zone you are totally inviting a mass shooting, tell you whut, as Open Carry Texas announced on its Facebook page today:

While this is not a ban on legally possessed firearms in its stores, we will continue to honor our months long policy of not taking long arms into Target stores or any other business. Time and time again, businesses that have asked guests not to bring legally possessed, self defense firearms into their establishments have seen their employees and customers victimized by criminals preying on the openly defenseless.

Sorry, Target, you're on your own, and don't come crying to Open Carry Texas after some Bad Guy shoots up one of your stores.

We bet Target is really crying about losing the support of these fine citizens, although maybe it's made up for somewhat by the number of shoppers who won't be staying away from a place where loons parade around looking like they think they live in Somalia. We'd also bet that "listened carefully to the nuances of this debate" translates to "counted the letters from people who wrote to us."

[ Dallas Morning News / ThinkProgress / Myrtle Beach Online ]

 Follow Doktor Zoom on Twitter. He as some nice things to say about the Target where he just bought a teevee.