The Second Amendment and Starbucks Coffee

There has been a lot of hullabaloo recently about the popular coffee chain Starbucks, and their relationship, or lack thereof, to the second amendment of the United States Constitution. The 2nd amendment, if case you've already forgotten those high-school political science requirements, spells out the right of American citizens to keep and bear arms. In fact, the 2nd Amendment is often referred to simply as "the right of the people to keep and bear arms". It was initially adopted in 1791, when the Bill of Rights was first adopted. Since that time, we've been in a sort of ongoing argument/discussion over the value and necessity of the right for one to own and bear personal, privately owned firearms. Starbucks, it appears, has decided to support this liberty, and allows its customer to bring firearms into its retail stores.

This discussion took a very interesting turn recently, when, after being petitioned by thousands, being asked at a shareholders meeting, and a direct appeal to their Board, not to allow the guns in their stores, Starbucks took a stand in favor of the right for its customers to bear arms in their stores, as long as it was in a legal manner, of course. It was then, that a national anti- gun group called the National Gun Victims Action Council called for an outright boycott on Starbucks on Valentine's Day of 2012. Here's the kicker though, instead of causing a huge stir over the exercising of this constitutional right, the event had the surprising, to some, effect of actually motivating the pro-gun crowd to implement their own display of a public boycott, of the attitudes of anti- gun activists.

Reportedly, there were tens of thousands of gun loving citizens that made a point to intentionally purchase a coffee at Starbucks on Valentines Day, and when possible, use a two-dollar bill to pay for it as a signal of their support of Starbucks recognition of the 2nd Amendment. There were even Facebook pages dedicated to the holiday event. While Starbucks reported that business was pretty much the same as any other day, in most ways, they did report the unusual oddity of receiving lots of two-dollar bills that day. Starbucks is somewhat unique for a corporate entity, in that it is the only large national chain that has openly embraced the peoples constitutional liberties, and allowed legally carried firearms within its doors.

So here's to ongoing support of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and the clear- sighted judgment of Starbucks in adopting this stance on the issue, even though, by law, they really didn't have to. After all, the amendment says "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" not "the right to bring guns into a retail establishment regardless off the proprietors consent". Good play, Starbucks, even if your coffee IS over-roasted and way too expensive for the average consumer.