Pennsylvania Gun Shop Won’t Sell To Muslims Or Clinton Supporters: ‘We Do Not Feel Safe Selling To Terrorists’
A Pennsylvania gun store is facing backlash after posting an ad that indicates they won’t sell to Muslims or Hillary Clinton supporters, saying “we do not feel safe selling to terrorists,” the Titusville Herald is reporting.
Altra Firearms, of Jackson Center, Pennsylvania, published an ad the week of October 22 in the weekly Area Shopper circular, offering “politically incorrect firearms,” and posting the disclaimer telling Muslims and Hillary supporters that their business is not welcome there.
Altra Firearms
No Muslims
No Hillary SupportersThey’ve Got My Business???????? pic.twitter.com/jvbGX1iTZc
— Clinton (@2ALAW) November 1, 2016
A week later, in the October 29 edition, the management of the Area Shopper published a lengthy disclaimer stating, in part, that they don’t condone the gun store’s ad or its sentiments.
“The advertisement was not created or generated by the Area Shopper and we do have a review and proofing mechanism in place and over several years have rejected offensive ads based on content. This particular ad was sent directly to us and placed for printing and subsequently missed in the process.”
Lon Wilson, the general manager of the Area Shopper, told local media that he wants it made clear that the weekly circular had nothing to do with the content of the ad, which he calls “offensive.”
“It’s not something that we support. If we had caught it, it would have been rejected.”
Further, Wilson says, the circular has been getting phone calls asking if the ad was real. Other readers have complained.
Altra Firearms owner Paul Chandler isn’t fazed by the criticism, in fact, he says, he welcomes it. He says he’s had a Democrat tell him that they’re not going to patronize his store, which doesn’t bother him since he won’t sell to Hillary Clinton supporters anyway. He also says he’s received death threats from Muslims.
“But it’s okay, I’m used to it from the religion of peace.”
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Altra Firearms is not the first gun store to receive criticism for publicly stating that they won’t sell to Muslims. Last year, as reported by the Inquisitr, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Florida Gun Supply, whose owner, Andy Hamilton, had declared his store a “Muslim-Free Zone.”
“I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued, claiming that Hamilton’s “Muslim-Free Zone” violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on religion. Judge Beth Bloom dismissed CAIR’s suit.
So does that mean that it’s legal for a gun store – or any store – to publish an ad saying that Muslims, or Hillary Clinton supporters, or anyone else, are not welcome at their store?
Yes and no. Publishing such an ad is considered protected Free Speech under the First Amendment and is not a crime. Acting on such an ad – that is, refusing to business with someone because they are part of a protected class (as in, a particular religion or creed) – is not allowed under the Civil Rights Act.
In other words, someone would have to prove that they were denied service or otherwise harmed because of the store’s policy. In the Florida case, Judge Bloom said that CAIR could not prove that any Muslims had been harmed by the store’s policy.
Back in Pennsylvania, Chandler is sticking by his declaration that he won’t sell to Muslims.
“There’s a lot of mosques that preach hate in this country. We’re at war with the Muslim faith, and a lot of people don’t see it that way. It’s an ideology that they despise our faith.”
Do you think gun stores should be allowed to turn away customers because they’re Muslims or Hillary Clinton supporters?
[Featured Image by gabriel12/Shutterstock]
