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| Wasn't posted on Mariano's Opening Day in Northbrook |
The
chain of markets that offer a somewhat upscale shopping experience for food
(they stock some items that the local Jewel finds to be a tad esoteric) is
usually seen as a reason to celebrate.
YET
UP IN suburban Northbrook, people were picketing because the new Mariano’s had
management that wouldn’t take up their pet cause – concealed carry of firearms
on one’s person.
Activists
said they would be at the store when it opened for business Tuesday morning
because they want the store to post those stickers that depict a red slash
though a silhouette of a pistol.
Making
it clear that people who feel the need to carry a firearm are not welcome in
the store. As in they ought to leave the gun inside their cars while they shop
inside for groceries.
Now
insofar as the law in Illinois is concerned, people can get permits that allow
them to carry a pistol in a shoulder holster or a purse (open-carry is a
separate issue). Which means a shopper with a permit could have his pistol on
his person while picking out a piece of trout or grabbing a gallon of milk.
STATE
LAW DOES permit businesses that don’t wish to have firearms on their premises
to post the stickers on their doors that the activists desire. In short, they
want their new Mariano’s to make a political statement!
One
that the Mariano’s management indicates they’re not willing to make.
WBBM-AM
radio reported that Mariano’s parent company justified its actions by saying it is
in compliance with Illinois law. They say their Chicago-based locations do post
such stickers, because city ordinances require them in the stores that also
sell alcoholic beverages.
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| It's not exactly Georgia |
Short
of a state law that would require the stickers in all their stores in Illinois,
they’re not about to go any farther than they have to.
WHICH
MAKES SOME sense. Mariano’s is in the business of selling groceries and some
prepared-food items. It isn’t a social organization out to make statements on
anything.
So
the idea that it doesn’t want to tick off anyone by bringing up what it wants
to regard as an irrelevant issue is to be expected.
But
it also makes a certain amount of sense that a business doesn’t want to
needlessly tick off its customer base. Which in the case of this new
supermarket is the north suburban area in and around Northbrook.
It’s
not exactly a rural community filled with people who think they’re about to
take their shotgun out and kill their dinner tonight. If anything, it is a
community inclined to be sympathetic to rules and restrictions intended to
reduce the potential for crime.
THOSE
WOULD INCLUDE restricting the access to weapons by people who aren’t the
police. It’s not one of those communities filled with people who think they’re
going to be called upon to shoot someone else to defend themselves against a
would-be mugger.
Let’s
not forget that Northbrook is just a couple of towns from Morton Grove – which
was once the first community in the nation to ban the sale and ownership of
firearms.
It
makes me wonder if Mariano’s management is that out-of-touch with who their
customers are. It’s not like this is a store in Kennesaw or Nelson in Georgia –
the communities that require their adult residents to own firearms.
Of
course, if Mariano’s were to now decide to add the desired stickers, they’ll
wind up attracting the attention of the National Rifle Association and every
other gun group.
THEY
MAY EVEN wind up like those Starbuck’s franchises in certain states where gun
owners make a point of bringing their weapons into the stores and making sure
everybody knows they’re armed while they buy a cup of overpriced coffee.
Which
puts Mariano’s in a very awkward position – one they may not be able to escape
from. Unless people decide that the novelty of the exotic food items they can
get from a Mariano’s makes them overcome any concern they have about firearms.
If
people get hungry enough, that may become a very real possibility.
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