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Starbucks seems an unlikely dueling ground in the national debate over guns, but the ubiquitous coffee chain Friday will once again find itself squarely in the cross hairs in the battle between gun control and gun rights advocates.
More than 2,000 gun rights activists plan to visit their local Starbucks with their sidearms for a national “Starbucks Appreciation Day.”
The Seattle-based chain takes no formal position on guns but has a corporate policy of following applicable state gun laws — including “open carry” laws in more than 40 states that allow permit-holding patrons to bring their loaded weapons into the shop while they sip their lattes and caramel macchiatos.
Gun owners began staging the appreciation days a few years ago when the company faced pressure from gun control advocates to ban firearms from his stores.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz resisted the move, saying in one interview, “I’m not a politician. I run a coffee company and we’re trying to abide by the laws in which we do business.”
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