Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has asked customers to leave their firearms at home before coming in to order their lattes and frappuccinos, CNN reports.
In August, a group of gun owners planned a “Starbucks Appreciation Day” in recognition of the coffee chain’s policy of allowing guns inside outlets in states where it is permitted by law.
The Newtown Coalition for Corporate Responsibility, a group which includes family members of the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting, responded by writing an open letter asking Schultz to ban guns at Starbucks.
Schultz now says the company is “not pro- or anti-gun,” but believes that guns “should not be part of the Starbucks experience.” Starbucks has posted an open letter from Schultz articulating the company’s new position on gun in its stores.
Schultz says that customers who bring in guns will still be served, and will not be asked to leave, because “we don’t want to put our people in the position of having to confront somebody who’s carrying a weapon,” he wrote.
[CNN]