We found a recent news report from October 24, 2016 about a community of people in Chicago who was going door to door asking business owners to post signs stating that their concealed carry weapons were not welcome in the stores.
The group of people in Deerfield called themselves Peaceful Communities. They are trying to reduce gun violence. Their strategy is to go door to door to merchants asking them not to allow guns in their establishments. According to the news report, as of October 20, the group had visited 21 merchants in downtown Deerfield. Ten merchants had posted signs and three places already had them posted.
The sign they are asking merchants to post is a window decal with a red line drawn through a handgun. Without any words, this sign is meant to show people who have concealed carry permits that they should not bring their gun into the premises. The article quoted someone from a restaurant that had posted the sign as saying: “There is no reason for someone to bring a gun into our restaurant,” Gaspar Ponce, the general manager of the Deerfield Potbelly’s, said.
Now, we recognize that business owners can certainly make this decision. But we advise against it. and here’s why.
If a criminal sees a merchant with that sign, they can feel pretty comfortable that no one in that store is going to have a gun. They’ll think to themselves that that store would be a good one to rob.
The sign pretty clearly yells out “Hey, no guns here robbers! Why not come rob our store?” It says to criminals: “Our patrons don’t have guns and neither do the shopkeepers.”
Schools, community centers, and religious locations that have been traditionally gun-free zones have all been targeted in mass shootings. Guns bans don’t ban criminals with guns. Criminals don’t care what the signs say. In fact, some may even look for the signs and know that they’ll face less resistance in that particular establishment. We think these business owners who are so worried about safety should put themselves in a criminal’s shoes. If you were a criminal, would you rather rob a store displaying a “no guns” sign or one where you weren’t sure if there were guns on the premises or not?
