Pro-gun advocate Doug Giles predicts that there will be "a massive backlash" against Panera Bread over its recent no guns policy.
"They're going to get a massive backlash just like Chipotle did, just like Target did," Giles told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV Tuesday.
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"Folks aren't going to like their rights mitigated," he explained.
"I understand they want the warm and fuzzy Panera feel there, but like happened in 1991 at the Luby's restaurant in Killeen, Texas where this guy drives his . . . truck through the front window and then kills 43 people, to me, as a parent, my warm and fuzzy comes knowing that there could have been somebody in there to protect my kids," he said.
The author of
"Rise, Kill & Eat: A Theology of Hunting from Genesis to Revelation" added that "gun-free zones are killing havens for lunatics on prescription meds."
Panera Bread issued a statement Monday asking its customers to refrain from bringing firearms into its restaurants. It joins companies such as Starbucks, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Target, which have all made similar requests of its patrons.
Newsday columnist Ellis Henican, who supports the move by Panera Bread, told Newsmax TV that "there's no reason to bring guns to a bakery, there's no reason to bring them into church, there's no reason to bring them to Little League."
"We are not facing a national trend of extra violence," he explained. "In fact, we have fewer gun crimes than we have had in this country in just about half a century."
However, he contends, that there are now just as many "accidental discharges, people shooting their loved ones, kids getting a hold of guns."
"To me we ought to be praising, not attacking responsible corporate citizens that say, you know what, we are here to serve you a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread and a nice wrap, and keep your guns outside," he added.
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is putting pressure on
Kroger supermarkets through a $6 million ad campaign to adopt a similar no-gun policy in its grocery stores.
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