Staples staple gun (courtesy staples.com)

Here’s an email blast from Moms Demand Action (For Gun Sense in America):

Dear Robert —

Last week, a woman shopping in a North Carolina Staples store accidentally shot herself when shopping with her two-year-old son.

In this instance, no one was seriously injured. But it’s not hard to imagine that the bullet might have been fired a little to the left or a little to the right and and we would have been reading about yet another tragedy resulting from guns being allowed where they don’t belong.

Here’s the good news about Staples: they’re often willing to do the right thing. Many Staples stores around the country put their customers’ safety first and prohibit guns . . .

Banning guns in stores should be a national policy for Staples, rather than a decision made by each individual store. The safety of our families shouldn’t depend on whether we happen to walk into the right Staples location.

Together, we can thank Staples for when they’ve been responsible, and urge them to make that responsible stand nationwide.

I’m hoping you’ll join me in doing something simple: the next time you shop at Staples, deliver this letter to the manager. [ED: full text after the jump.]

That’s all. I’m not asking you to boycott Staples – as loyal customers, our voices are particularly important. We just need to make our voices heard.

So, please download the Staples letter here. Sign it and bring it with you next time you go shopping at Staples.

And please to let me know how it goes! You can hit reply to this email or post a quick comment on Facebook.

Sincerely,

Jenn Hoppe
Program Director
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

PS: As our kids head back to school, we’re giving moms lots of easy ways to kick off the year with gun sense. Check out all the ways you can go Back to School with Gun Sense.

An Open Message to Staples:

Each year, my children and I start the school year with a trip to Staples to stock up on backto-school supplies. We return frequently throughout the year to pick up items for the classroom, school projects and more.

As a loyal customer, I am asking Staples to make a simple but important change to its corporate policies.

Please ban guns from all your stores nationwide.

I know many individual Staples stores have already made the decision to prohibit customers from carrying guns. It only makes sense to extend this policy to all of your stores.

In many states across the country, gun laws are so lax that an individual can legally purchase and carry a firearm with no background check and little or no training. I don’t feel safe in stores where my children and I could be standing next to someone with a gun while we stock up for the school year.

Staples has the opportunity to show American moms that it puts the safety of its customers first. Please do the right thing and keep guns out of Staples.

Thank you

_________________
Signature

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50 COMMENTS

  1. I wrote my own version of this letter —

    An open letter to Staples:

    As a Second Amendment supporter and gun enthusiast, I have recently become aware that some folks are urging you to ban guns from all your stores nationwide. While I appreciate these folks’ feelings, I do not appreciate their efforts to demonize and ostracize an entire class of law-abiding, peaceful Americans.

    As a regular customer, I am asking Staples to simply follow the law and not inject your company into the socio-political sphere. I am not asking Staples to take a corporate stand in favor of or against guns or the carry thereof, I am simply asking that your policy be that you do not have a policy, save that dictated by local law. Please do not leave this intrinsic American freedom to politics based on implied financial blackmail or individual managerial discretion. I’m asking that your policy be to follow the local laws at each of your locations, no more, and no less.

    Thank you.

    • *****HYPOTHETICAL letter from a criminal*****
      An Open Message to Staples:
      Each year, thousands of Children start the school year with a trip to Staples to stock up on back-to-school supplies. They return frequently throughout the year to pick up items for the classroom, school projects and more. This means phat banks for me and my homies.
      As a Criminal, I am asking Staples to make a simple but important change to its corporate policies.
      Please ban guns from all your stores nationwide.
      I know many individual Staples stores have already made the decision to prohibit customers from carrying guns. It only makes sense to extend this policy to all of your stores. This will make it easier to figure out which ones to rob.
      In many states across the country, gun laws are so lax that an individual can legally purchase and carry a firearm. I don’t feel safe in stores where my victims could have a gun while we rob your store and your patrons. If I feel like taking a hot little mommy to aisle five for a little game of ‘gang-rape dat b***h’ during a robbery I do not feel safe knowing she could be armed, I could be shot and killed in the process.
      Staples has the opportunity to show American moms that it puts the safety of Criminals first. Please do prove this and keep guns out of Staples.
      Thank you

      (No, I am not a criminal and I do not condone criminal activity, the above is meant to highlight the delusion of a plastic sign on a door.)

      • This letter needs some serious editing before being sent – grammar and spelling are perfect. No way ANYONE would believe this actually cam from some gang-banger criminal.

    • Hey, I just copied and pasted your letter (Matt in Fla) to Staples too! It was easy! Hope everybody who reads this blog will do it!

    • Just emailed that to Staples. I think I might change “Staples” to something generic and email it to pretty much every major corp I can think of.

  3. So what happens if Staples does? Lord knows how many “gun free” by decree establishments I’ve carried into.

    So say Staples makes it policy. Nothing changes for anyone. Even open carriers are rarely noticed.

    I wish we had some idea as to how many people carry into a place where force of law applies. The post office for example. I can think of a half dozen who do it daily off the top of my head.

    It’s a pointless and unnecessary PR move to either ban or welcome carriers explicitly when the reality of the matter is nothing changes for anyone going into any of these places.

    • Honestly, it’s a stupid PR move. If you love in gun friendly area then chances are corporate policy won’t matter much anyways. I open carry into Costco all the time in Idaho and no one cares. Their membership policy clearly states ‘no firearms’. I would be shocked if someone here actually asked me to leave because of it. But then again I live in an area that is incredibly friendly to firearms.

    • It’s a pointless and unnecessary PR move to either ban or welcome carriers explicitly…

      That was kinda my point in my letter above. I like how Starbucks is handling it. A lot of people think Starbucks is behaving in a pro-gun manner, when all they’re really doing is behaving in a gun-neutral, pro-money manner. Their stance is, “as long as it’s legal, we don’t care.” I think that’s a good example for Staples, and my original draft of the letter actually invited them to follow Starbucks’ lead, but I decided it was better without it.

    • Of all the places I would be sure to follow the law – it would be at the Post Office.

      If you so much as fart wrong in a Post Office, or too near a Postal Employee, it is a Federal Crime – generally punishable by twice the sentence you’d get if you killed everyone else waiting in line. This is like walking into a Federal Courthouse, just with different odds of being caught.

      Postal cops (yes, very real) do not mess around, and have all the accountability of the TSA agent who spent waaayy too much time feeling up your girlfriend. Small town? Sure, your odds are good. Metro area, especially a big one that is not particularly pro-gun? You can’t pay to me to ignore that sign.

    • In Washington state the penalty for carrying in a posted store is minimal. I think the MOST you can be charged with is a misdemeanor. It’s much more likely that if they even know you are carrying, which they shouldn’t if you are doing it properly, they would simply ask you to leave, after which you could be charged with trespass if you did not exit the premises. (But can you actual picture one of these hoplophobes approaching someone they know is carrying and demanding anything?)

      Several years ago I did carry into Post Offices, under the same reasoning that I was concealed and they wouldn’t know, but considering that carrying on USPS property is a FEDERAL offense, not some local infraction, I have decided to minimize that risk and leave the pistol in my glove box.

  4. What do these Moms do in the spaces between their homes and the stores they frequent?

    I would prefer these people employ the very same imagination they use when believing they are safe in Gun Free Zones, and just imagine there are no firearms being carried around them. The net effect is the same, except in the latter case no Constitutional Freedoms are being infringed and they just might have their lives saved one day by a law-abiding citizen.

    I would also like all the gun-totting Moms to form an organization entitled Some Moms Request Moms Demand Action, Shut the Hell Up (SMRMDASHU).

    • “…What do these Moms do in the spaces between their homes and the stores they frequent?”

      Duh, they have “Gun-Free Zone” bumper stickers on their cars.

  6. I would urge all moms to mind their own business. If it doesn’t directly affect you, then leave it alone. This isolated incident was probably 2000 miles from the dumb lady’s desk.

    • That list is completely meaningless to me. Several examples:
      * Staples doesn’t have a corporate anti-gun policy. They do, however, leave it to the individual manager’s discretion.
      * Costco has a no guns policy (news to me as of today), but I’ve never seen anything at their door, concealed means concealed, and open carry isn’t allowed where I live anyway. So until someone told me about it, I didn’t know their policy even existed. I will continue to act as if it doesn’t.
      * I’ve never seen a sign at my IKEA.
      * My local Goodyear had a “no guns” sign propped on the back counter, half hidden by a printer. I mentioned it to the manager, and he picked it up and threw it in a drawer.
      * I’ve never seen a sign at TGI Fridays.
      * I’ve never seen a sign at Whole Foods.
      * I’ve never seen a sign at CVS.

      Now, keep in mind that where I live, signs don’t carry the weight of law. But I still look, and in all of these and several other places on that list, I’ve never seen any signs or other information.

      • Just because you’ve never seen a sign doesn’t mean a corporate policy doesn’t exist.

        That said, just because a corporate policy exists doesn’t mean the local managers enforce it (or are even aware of it).

        As far as I can tell, if a company is on 2acheck’s boycott list, that means 2acheck has confirmed that there’s a corporate policy against allowing firearms on premises (often confirmation by e-mail).

        • I guess it gets them the best of both worlds. If Costco has a no guns policy, then the idiots are happy, and I don’t know about it, so it never affects me, so I can’t be irritated with them. Win-win?

  9. I’ve been paying closer attention to signage lately. Ordinarily I don’t think much about it unless I’m entering a government/police/judicial type setting. Here in southern Ohio and the border counties of WV and KY I don’t see much signage in any of the big chains. Of course as mentioned above signs have no weight of law in any of these three states so they’re hardly worth paying attention to.

    Today took me to a Walgreens and a Kroger, no signs. Yesterday a CVS and a Dr’s office/health complex, no signs. Then a LGS, certainly no signage there and my mother is now the proud new owner of a XDS-9 (she preferred it to the Shield 9). So there is at least one mother who isn’t going to be writing anyone to complain that they allow carry!

    • I wondered the same thing, so I had to go look. It has one review, two stars, and a complaint that it doesn’t come with staples.

      • Now I want to see the box and find out if it states that staples are not included. We need more disclaimers and lawsuits!!!

  11. The motives of these anti-civil rights groups are hard to understand unless they have a deep-seated hatred and fear of guns in the possession of free people. Mothers should want armed guards in every school. Note the guards is a plural at least 3 to 5 guards are needed in every school building. Even better, an armed guard in each schoolroom and 2 in the school office.
    This of course, the cost of hiring and training at least 10 million guards would be in the tens of billions of dollars, money that does not exist.
    However, although 75% of the school teachers surveyed do not want guns in schools and they don’t want teachers to carry guns.
    But this survey means that 15% of the public school teachers want to carry guns to protect their students and themselves. That 25% is ten times the percentage of the general population that has already paid for their own training and paid for their state issued concealed carry license.
    So why not save a few billion dollars and a few hundred lives and allow the teachers who want to improve their safety by arming themselves?
    There isn’t any law that prevents this from happening tomorrow, all that is required is for the school board to say, “Arm the teachers who have a background check and familiarity with firearms.” The teachers don’t even require a CCW license, all they need is permission from the school board.
    Teachers can study a book, might I suggest the Kansas CCH Instructor Handbook
    http://ag.ks.gov/docs/default-source/documents/concealed-carry-instructor-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=10
    The teacher all know each other, they wear a uniforms and not all black combat gear, so identification of friend or foe should not be an issue.
    If schools taught real gun safety and the laws that are covered in the KS CCH Instructor Book, maybe the gang bangers will at least learn to only shoot rival gang members and not innocent by-standers. Housewives will learn that a proper holster is essential equipment so that the trigger doesn’t get pulled accidentally.
    But the powers that be would prefer that children by the hundreds die so they can create a panic of laws that won’t stop any school or work-place shootings, but will speed socialism, dictatorship and national slavery.

    • “The motives of these anti-civil rights groups are hard to understand unless they have a deep-seated hatred and fear of guns in the possession of free people.”

      The people who run these non-profits cut themselves fat salaries, and often cover all their travel expenses. Big salary, work at home if you want, hobnob with bigwig politicos at fancy parties and nice restaurants, set your own schedule, and have Bloomberg, Soros, or the taxpayers cover it all. What’s not to like?

      And all you have to do is help sell out your fellow citizens. Hell, I’m sure some of them even think they are doing good, and many of the rest can delude themselves into thinking so. It’s hard for me to stomach their crap, but I don’t have much trouble understanding them.

    • I’ve always said that one of the simplest first steps to keep children from dying in school shootings should be body armor, worn every day. Maybe IIIA? It’s not cheap, but compared to the price of education it is. It’s not as comfortable, but are children’s lives worth it or not? Armor piercing .30-06 etc. and head shots are possible, but that further restricts the shooter’s options.

  12. I help the founders of Staples with computer stuff back in the 80’s. They are Californians so don’t hold your breath.

  13. I stopped going to Stables when they banned a gun store from a corporate contest. I go to Office Depot now.

  15. There is a grocery store in my town,part of the Roberts Grocery Company,they have a sign in there window that states that they don’t want open carry weapons,in there stores but concealed carry permit holders are welcome.This is in Mississippi,where we are still having a problem brought on by socialistic Democrats,about open carry of firearms.This is a step in the right direction,maybe one day open carry will be accepted in businesses,when it is passed by the state Supreme Court.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

  17. I am a bit confused. I do not understand if she shot herself with a staple gun or she came across someone open or concealed carrying. First case scenario, if you picked up a staple gun and got hurt, writing anyone else and complaining about your stupidity is just wrong. If the person is open carrying and isn’t supposed to be, bypass Staples call a cop. If he is open carrying and is licensed to carry, mind your own business. Concealed carry same as the last.
    I support the Constitution and as such the 2nd Amendment. I believe in Open Carry and feel every ADULT should carry a gun. I support the police, fire and life squad departments and stay out of their way as much as possible.

  18. Oh dang. Curse you “Mom’s”!!! Now I can’t carry in Staples!!! If only they didn’t have those blasted metal detectors in… oh… wait. Idiots.

  19. My take

    An Open Message to Staples:
    Each year, my children and I start the school year with a trip to Staples to stock up on back-to-school supplies. We return frequently throughout the year to pick up items for the classroom, school projects and more.
    As a loyal customer, I am asking Staples to make a simple but important change to its corporate policies.
    Please DO NOT ban guns from all your stores nationwide.
    I know many individual Staples stores have already made the decision to prohibit customers from carrying guns. It does not make sense to extend this policy to all of your stores. As you know, may shootings occur in defenseless victim zones that are created by so called “Gun Free Zones” These are created by the short shortsightedness of our politicians and business leaders. What do our Law Enforcement Officers use to protect themselves? They use guns. What does the Secret Service use to defend the lives of our leaders? They use guns. Is Gun Free Zones are so effective, why don’t we use them to defend our police officers and our leaders? The simple answer is that criminals don’t obey the law. Don’t our children deserve the same protection as our law enforcement officers and our leaders? Staples has the opportunity to show American moms that it puts the safety of its customers first. Please do the right thing and do not disarm law abiding Staples customers.

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