Once again we have this immense frustration of seeing people gunned down by white extremist and racist shooters with weapons of war, knowing we don’t hold enough political power yet to make the changes to law that are necessary.
However, we do have one weapon at our disposal that we can use immediately that could be a large and important hit to America’s gun culture. Most states with open carry laws have an exception written in for businesses that don’t want people with guns roaming their aisles or sitting at their tables. Here in Arizona for example, a business needs only to post a sign at their entrance stating that weapons are not allowed and the law will back them up. The only large business I’ve seen here in the Phoenix area that posts that sign prominently is Costco and I watched them turn away a man that tried to challenge that.
We have the power right now to very publicly and very loudly let all the other businesses know that we will boycott them if they allow open carry. Let’s TODAY begin that boycott. Let’s also extend that boycott to any retailers that sell weapons to the public.
Go to the management of those businesses. Post to their Twitter and Facebook pages. Email their corporate offices. Change your buying habits even if it inconveniences you. Let’s get in their face now and make this a huge trend.
In November 2020 we must take back the political power but that’s over a year off. We need to direct our outrage where it can make a difference right now. Marches and protests (which we of course should do) can and will be ignored by the party in power but we can immediately severely affect the profits of corporations that bend to the NRA.
We should come up with a Twitter hashtag that we can jump behind. I’m open to suggestions. I needs to be short but to the point.
Of course none of our political work can stop. Get out daily and register voters and support progressive and liberal candidates especially those that have taken strong stances for gun control.