You are absolutely right and I agree with you. But doesn't the logic behind the whole thought process seem more than a little bizarre.jmra wrote:Most sensible people realize that these signs are intended for criminals carrying illegally and if you have a CHL to ignore them.
The old saying says "locks keep honest people honest." I've always figured this meant that by not making it very easy for someone who had light fingers to get them around something that didn't belong to them, a possible crime was averted. The lock becomes a physical barrier, though not a particularly tough one for a determined thief.
So who is the real target audience of the gun buster sign? And exactly what could its deterrent effect be? How many people who stuff a hand gun under their shirt will be persuaded not to walk into the building that has a gun buster sign? It is a very far stretch to suggest that, like a lock, it is going to keep honest people honest. The lock prevents possible crime. By the time that an unlicensed person who is carrying a hand gun sees the sign, a crime has already been committed and all that remains is to see how many additional charges (like armed robbery) might be added. Perhaps it is only a future deterrent, to those who were pondering carrying an unlicensed handgun? I suspect that some otherwise law abiding citizens do carry unlicensed firearms but the thought of them being driven from their "evil" ways by a gunbuster sign seems pretty laughable.
My take is that those signs are aimed not at criminals or maybe even potential criminals but at law abiding citizens. The store thinks that the sign has magical powers to control people who enter the building, even CHLs who know that no such magical powers exist through that sign. So, except for the rare occasion when I have no other options, I assume that any no gun sign is aimed at me is there because the business who posted it doesn't want me there. It is not a legal statement but a political one. I just silently take my business elsewhere.