
Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in an open letter to customers late Tuesday that Starbucks Appreciation Day events “disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of ‘open carry.’ To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores.”
The coffee chain did not, however, issue an outright ban on guns in its nearly 7,000 company-owned cafes, saying this would potentially require staff to confront armed customers.
The Seattle-based company hoped to give “responsible gun owners a chance to respect its request,” Schultz said.
Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-usa-starbucks-guns-idUSBRE98H04N20130918.