The No Guns Sign Insult – What if the Signs Read No Jews?
This is just another form of discrimination but against gun owners of all races.
By Jeff Knox
Manassas, VA –-(AmmoLand.com)- How does it make you feel when you start to walk into a business and see a “No Guns” sign prominently posted? Are you angry? Offended? Indifferent?
How do you react? Do you just turn around and take your business elsewhere? Complain to the management? Just ignore it and go on with your business?
The members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League take “No Guns” signs as personally offensive and they let their offense be known – to the business, to fellow VCDL members, and anyone else who’ll listen – or read a web page.
VCDL maintains a list of anti-rights Virginia businesses on their web site, www.VCDL.org, and encourages gun owners and rights supporters to avoid these businesses except to let them know that their policy is offensive. VCDL has actively pursued this position for several years while they have simultaneously grown to become the most politically active and effective rights organization in the state.
So when the 7th District Republican Committee decided to hold a major fundraising rally in a location which is prominently posted “No Guns,” VCDL let the Republicans know they weren’t happy. When the Republicans held the annual event in the same anti-rights location every year for the next several years, disregarding VCDL’s repeated objections, many at VCDL began taking the Republicans’ choice as an insult. When the Republicans refused to change venues – even though VCDL offered to help sponsor the event at a different location – VCDL got mad.
On October 17th about 250 VCDL protesters gathered in a shopping mall near the Innsbrook Pavilion, the private, anti-rights event center where the annual Republican Roundup was being staged. The well organized protest included a moon-bounce and other distractions set up for the kids, an airplane towing a “Guns Save Lives” banner, and even a hot air balloon proclaiming the same message. Local shops, restaurants, and hotels welcomed the protesters – who were mostly openly carrying sidearms – and even offered special discounts. A good and safe time was had by all.
The Chairman of the 7th District Republican Committee has previously told people who complained to him about his choice to use the anti-rights facilities that while he and the Republican Party strongly support the Second Amendment, price and convenience trumps principles. And he’s sticking to his No Guns. Even as there were almost as many people outside protesting as there were inside rallying, the chairman announced that the event would again be held in the same location next year. The level of base callousness and simple stupidity is just staggering.
This up-scuttle echoes a larger issue of misunderstanding between the activist, rights community and the general public – sadly often including many gun owners. When a business posts a “No Guns” policy they are making a political statement whether that is their intent or not. They are also denigrating and insulting lawful gun owners – particularly those who choose to carry. A “No Guns” sign serves no useful purpose beyond these insults and political posturing because the only people to whom such signs apply are the most conscientious and responsible gun owners. Criminals and the irresponsible simply ignore the signs and do exactly what they would have done without the signs, except with perhaps a greater sense of security knowing that conscientious, law-abiding gun owners have disarmed or gone somewhere else.
Gun owners and rights supporters who are not angered and offended by these “We Don’t Want Your Kind” signs posted on businesses they frequent are being as thoughtless and insensitive as the businesses themselves. These “No Guns” signs should elicit the same reaction from gun owners and our friends that “Whites Only” signs did among blacks and civil rights supporters in the 1960’s. They are a personal insult and an assault on our liberty and anyone who can’t see that is simply choosing not to. That appears to be the case with the leadership of Virginia’s 7th District Republicans. One must wonder whether they would continue using the same facilities if the sign on the door read “No Jews” rather than “No Guns.”
Posting a “No Guns” sign is not a business decision about patron safety nor is disarming just a minor inconvenience. Such signs are a political statement and an insult and they should never go unanswered. The Firearms Coalition offers Merchant Education Cards which make it easy to let businesses know why they’re losing our business. They are available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.
Neal Knox Associates – The most trusted name in the rights movement.
About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement.
The comparison this sign makes is so offensive that I almost wonder if that was the point. First of all guns are not people. It’s amazing that point even needs to be made. The offence people take to no gun zones tends to be some kind of internalization of gun ownership as an essential aspect of that person’s character. Therefore the impression that “I am not allowed” creates a sense of discrimination. But damn, if someone’s sense of identity is so tied to their firearm that they are going to get their nose out of joint when they can’t bring… Read more »
I feel I must point out, years later as I read this, that being Jewish IS a choice, if you're talking about the religeon. Anyone can choose to be, or not be, any religeon they want. Now, if you're talking about being of Jewish decent, or speaking of Jewish as the race, you can certainly make the argument that you can't change that. Personally, I think any place that posts a sign like that is discriminatory. Mothers who CHOOOSE to breast feed are a protected class now. That's not a requirement, although some feel it is. Owning and carrying a… Read more »
Have you noticed how adolescent the majority of responses are from the anti-rights crowd? Adolescence is that period of life when we're just beginning to think critically but still use feelings and self orientation predominately. Stupid jokes, observations, and analogies predominate. Thinking, what there is of it, is oriented through the lens of the self. "If I had a gun I might be immature enough to pull it out of my pocket and shoot someone without valid reason, therefore you need to have your rights curtailed." While there is no parallel between being a Jew in Stone's silly analogy, and… Read more »
It is in no way the same. And I am using humor to make the point easier for someone to take. Someone like you "Silent Majority" i.e. anonymous, I put it out there, and am ready to take the heat of opposite positions. But, you don't. Gun ownership is a choice a person makes. Myself, I choose to own guns. If businesses decide they don't want guns in their establishments, that is their choice. Shop elsewhere. Jewish/Black, not a choice. There are protections in place for religion and ethnicity for a reason. If they decide they don't want Jews/Blacks in… Read more »
Stone you are either very stupid or this is a bad attempt at humor.
The point of the article is discrimination against gun owners is the same as discrimination against race or censorship of free speech….what don't you get?
OK, my only problem here is, if I pull a Jew out of my pocket and point it at someone, and pull his arm, it won't kill them.
I am a member of the NRA, Pro 2A, Libertarian thinker, but your analogy is weak, because Jews don't travel at 1800fps, and don't fit in my pocket, and haven't been used in wars or hunting or police actions that I am aware of.