Open Letter to Sprouts Farmers Market

From:

Willis Baker
xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx

1/24/2020

To:

Sprouts Farmers Market
Customer Relations
5455 E. High Street, Suite 111
Phoenix, AZ 85054

Sprouts Farmers Market #212
Gary Dolman
9861 Adams Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA 92646

It saddens me to have to write this letter and I have been thinking about it for several weeks.

I have been a proud supporter and customer of my local Adams Avenue Sprouts Farmers Market in Huntington Beach California for years store #212. As a matter of fact, I have been shopping there since the first day they opened. I spend between $50.00 and $400.00 every month at Sprouts. That was, until a few weeks ago when, for the first time, signs were put on the doors that discriminated against me and who I choose to be. The sign said, “No guns allowed except law enforcement”.

I’m a gun owner. I train on the basics weekly and I take skill building classes monthly. I am on my church security team and we train on defusing situations, situational awareness, as well as firearms use. I carry other tools and a medical kit for emergencies. I have never wanted to be a police officer and I do not act like one. I have a civilian license from the Orange County Sheriff’s department that says I passed a rigorous criminal background check, mental health background check, and proficiency class. That permit is called a CCW and it allows me to carry a concealed firearm outside of my home.

Posting “gun free zone” signs is a mistake. Crime statistics showing that over 89% of mass shootings happen in “gun free zones” proves it does not work to stop or prevent crimes in schools, churches, or other public places. The criminal element that carries out these acts, do not respect “gun free zone” signs as you or I. We think the signs mean there are no guns. Criminals know the signs mean there will be no resistance from unarmed, defenseless people. CCW holders and gun owners are often the one who stop criminals from taking more lives when they choose to commit heinous acts. The bad guy gets to make the first move and cannot always be stopped, even by law enforcement. I know media reports are filled with the hundreds of cases where a horrible criminal hurt others using a gun, but what you don’t see is the hundreds of thousands of cases where a gun owner used a firearm to stop a violent crime like rape or murder.

Your decision to discriminate against law-abiding gun owners is more than just an impractical business and safety choice though. It marginalizes me and make clear to me that I am somehow a problem and not welcome to do business with the many people who rely on you to sell their products. I will not bring my hard earned money, my emergency training, and my lifesaving classes to a store that stands against what I believe and who I am. I will be buying my groceries elsewhere and ask my fellow Orange County Gun Owners to do the same until your views on my civil rights and who I am as a person changes.

Sincerely
Willis Baker
xxx-xxx-xxxx
xxxxxxx@xxxxxx