Former presidential daughter and Hillary surrogate Chelsea Clinton tweeted out a map showing all the Starbucks coffee shops compared to all the “gun dealers” in America.
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 14, 2016
The link goes to a story on the “CityLab” part of The Atlantic magazine operation. Here is the website, called “Firearms and Frappuccinos,” upon which their story is based.
“So a new mapping project by data viz company 1point21 Interactive tries to contextualize this number by comparing it to something all Americans know exists in abundance: Starbucks,” writes CityLab.
“Looking at the Federal Firearms License data, the first question I asked myself was, ‘Is that a lot—it sounds like a lot?'” Brian Beltz, who helped put the project together, tells CityLab. “That’s why we chose to compare it to something that everyone knows and has a reputation of being on every corner.”
According to their analysis:
- There are six gun dealers for every Starbucks
- Gun sellers outnumber grocery stores
- Gun sellers outnumber McDonald’s
- Gun sellers outnumber total coffee shops
The study points out that in certain places that violate the Second Amendment, the number of Starbucks is closer to the number of gun dealers, like in Washington D.C.
Let me clarify how this is misleading. “Gun dealers” for the sake of this agitprop include, according to the website, “all licensees for ‘Dealer in Firearms Other Than Destructive Devices (Including Gunsmiths)’ and ‘Pawnbroker in Firearms Other Than Destructive Devices’. We did not include any importer or manufacturer licensees in our data set.”
Therefore this map doesn’t necessarily represent people who sell guns or sell guns exclusively; it represents people who have a license from the ATF. This includes people who are licensed to receive and process gun sales from out of state or the internet which involves a background check and compliance with local gun laws. These folks aren’t necessarily selling guns, they are just part of the sometimes complicated process of purchasing a firearm. For example, my FFL doesn’t do anything other than handle out-of-state or internet guns sales — he’s a chaplain in the Army. It’s a side business for him and his family. He does not sell guns, he does paperwork.
Is this intentional or just ignorant? I’m not sure. The gun control crowd loves to talk about guns but knows nothing about guns or the gun business.
More importantly, SO WHAT??
The reason there are gun stores, or more accurately people in the firearms industry, is because there is a demand for firearms and firearms services. One thing the anti-gun left likes to do is remove the agency from individuals and assign it to an ominous, evil, external force like the NRA. But people open businesses to make money, and the firearms business is booming. It’s booming because there is a demand from consumers. It’s very simple — it’s the free market.
I’d also like to point out that every one of these “gun dealers” mentioned is required to follow the federal and local gun laws. These are not the kind of firearms businesses the liberals claim to be concerned about. These are BY THE BOOK AND THE LAW gun transactions. If anything, the anti-Second Amendment jokers should be heartened that there are so many firearms businesses that are operating according to regulations and conducting background checks.
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