Not Without My Colt

Gun owners are mobilizing in the United States – they’re demanding the right to carry their guns in public.

Visitors to San Francisco were recently greeted with an unusual picture: a group of armed men and women swarming across Baker Beach picking up trash. At Starbucks shops across California, customers ordered their lattes or espressos with a shootin’ iron stuck into the waistband of their pants. These so-called “open carry” activists are demonstrating for their right to carry weapons in public. That’s already permitted in 43 U.S. states and in 29 of them, the guns can be loaded.

California, on the other hand, is one of those 13 states in which loaded guns may be carried only in rural areas. But since February, guns are permitted in national parks, provided the ammunition is carried separately, and that includes Baker Beach.

Waitresses at Starbucks are unfazed when an armed customer comes into the shop because company policy allows it. Starbucks, along with many other cafes and fast-food chains, could declare their establishments a weapons-free zone, even in those states with open carry laws. This falls under the same statute that permits them to have a no-shirt-no-shoes-no-service policy. A Starbucks spokesperson said that the firm only abides by local laws, a policy that has drawn fire from gun control organizations like the Brady Campaign. They have launched a campaign aimed at forcing Starbucks to declare their stores weapons-free zones. The campaign has already gathered 30,000 signatures.

While this battle is brewing in California, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently dealing with a suit against the city of Chicago. In an attempt to lower the city’s homicide rate 28 years ago, the city made it illegal for residents to own firearms. Four Chicagoans are suing on the basis that they are being denied rights granted them by the U.S. Constitution. They may very well be successful since the court has already overturned a similar law in the nation’s capital. But that ruling applied only to Washington, D.C., since the city is considered federal and not state territory. If the Chicago plaintiffs succeed, however, the law would apply uniformly across all states.

Other states are also joining in the move to loosen guns laws. In Virginia, guns may be carried even in bars and restaurants serving alcohol. A seventeen year old law prohibiting the purchase of more than one gun per month also stands a good chance of being overturned.

The increased demand for firearms also shows that the gun nuts now have the upper hand. In 2009, 14 million applications for gun permits were filed, up from 12.7 million in 2008 and 11.2 million in 2007. About 270 million guns are estimated to be part of 60 million U.S. households. The trend has been spurred on by propaganda from the National Rifle Association. Since President Obama’s election victory, the gun owner’s lobby has been warning that he intends to put further restrictions on gun ownership. Organizations in favor of more gun control, on the other hand, complain that since taking office, Obama hasn’t even succeeded in plugging a loophole in existing gun laws that would stop unlicensed dealers from peddling their wares at gun shows. And U.S. states are no longer required to collect data on gun use in the commission of crimes.