Chicago Tribune columnist wonders why you need a gun while enjoying coffee at Starbucks

* Why do you need a gun to go to Starbucks?

Comments

[Kathy]

You seem to be living under a rock. Crime is at an all-time high. No one is saying that having a gun inside any business establishment is a requirement. And I agree with the comment that Starbucks caved.
Just because some people don't want to/believe in carrying a weapon doesn't give them the right to decide for everyone.
Some don't believe in God either and are making that decision, too. But if someone breaks into your house, you are going to call someone with a gun and pray to God they get there in time.

[Out from Under a Rock]

Kathy... you are an unfortunate victim of selective media consumption. The unending barrage of horrific news stories tends to warp the overall picture for most of us sadly.

I don't want to debate you on the gun issue, however I do want to assure you that crime is in fact, at the LOWEST levels in decades. I encourage you to look up the facts. Here is an excerpt from just one of countless unbiased fact-based articles you will find:

"Kids today may not be running around the neighborhood without fear like Beaver Cleaver, but the country is in the midst of low levels of crime not seen in decades, according to a report released this week by the FBI.

Violent crime, which has been falling for five years, decreased 4 percent in 2011, according to the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report. Murders are at the lowest point in 40 years. Violent crime, according to the FBI, includes murder, rape, robbery and assault.

Property crime, which has been in a decline for nine years, also continued to drop, albeit by 0.8 percent, notes Reuters. The peak of violent crime and property crime came in the early '90s. The 2011 report represents a 30.6 drop in property crime since 1991, and a 38 percent drop in violent crime since 1992."

[Mickey Blue Eyes]

With Chicago and Detroit competing for murder capital of America -- parts of Atlanta are an "also ran" -- it would be foolish to go anywhere in Chicago unarmed.

Chicago has very strict gun control laws, which is why criminals are able to murder people with impunity. Nobody has the ability to defend themselves or fight back against the criminals. And the corrupt government is not able or willing to protect their citizens.

Why do you need a gun to go to Starbucks? Ask that to the victims of the Luby's Cafeteria massacre. People being gunned down and nobody able to do anything about it because, by law, everyone was disarmed (except the criminal).

I wonder if the OP's opinion will change when a criminal walks into a Chicago Starbucks and murders a few people? Naw, that would NEVER happen in Chicago with their insanely strict gun control laws.

[abacabb]

Well guess what, I'm from Chicago, and our violent crime rate is VERY high. We just surpassed NY in total homicides, and have the strictest gun laws in the country. This was a stupid article, as many of my customers (regardless of stance on guns) pointed out to me yesterday. The Chicago trib used to be a respectable paper.

[mike]

Why is it all these shootings seem to happen at places where guns are banned?

[Crateish]

Because the nearby inbred red states (Virginia, in the case of the DC shooter, bought his there) are armed to the teeth.

[Al I.]

Well, you can tell that column wasn't written by John Kass.