Starbucks has reversed its stance on customers carrying guns into its US stores, calling on them to leave them at home instead.
The coffee chain’s chief executive, Howard Schultz, requested on Tuesday that the coffee chain’s customers leave their firearms at home, shifting company policy amid an increasingly fractious debate over US gun rights in the wake of multiple mass shootings.
The request was made in part because more people had been bringing guns into Starbucks over the last six months, prompting confusion and dismay among some patrons and employees, Schultz said.
In an open letter to customers issued late on Tuesday, he said: “Our stores exist to give every customer a safe and comfortable respite from the concerns of daily life.”
Starbucks’ longstanding policy had been to default to local gun laws, including “open carry” regulations that allow people to bring guns into stores. It has nearly 7,000 company-operated US stores.
That policy had frustrated US gun-control advocates, who have persuaded many other restaurants and retailers to ban weapons in their stores and worked hard to get Starbucks to follow suit.
