In response to the Chattanooga attack, gun store owner Andrew Hallinan decided to bar Muslims who literally interpret the Koran from his store, turning the establishment into a “Muslim-free zone”.
According to Breitbart.com:
Hallinan announced the ban in front of a Confederate flag and told CNN he wanted the announcement to “offend as many people as [possible]” in hopes of “[starting] a conversation about the political correctness that has become overly extreme here in the United States and [is] causing loss of life that we could prevent if we looked at Islam for what it is.”
[…]I can’t, by law, ask each and every person who comes through my doors what their religious background is. But the ATF expressly gives me the right and authority to deny service to anybody that I feel is a threat for any reason. And it happens on weekly basis that we have people come through the gun shop [and] they pass their background check but they seem a little off. And we make a determination on a case by case basis whether or not we’re going to arm and train these people.
Despite his clear prejudice towards an entire group of people, Hallinan does have the right to restrict access to his store. This is one of the most basics of the free market; we all have control over our property. Even though this decision may be intolerant and narrow-minded, he has every right as an American citizen to decide who to serve.
What do you think? Was his decision to ban Muslims from his store understandable?
Source: Breitbart.com
