Some folks are taking me to task for
yesterday's post.
In a nutshell: No, I am not "for" private employers banning guns, searching cars for them or firing employees who have them in their car trunks. I'd like to see company policies welcoming employees to carry on premises.
What concerns me is the method for achieving this--and whether the chair we pick up in this particular barfight is also used to smash rights to property and freedom of association. I see grave danger in ceding more power to government in these areas.
Under my argument, if you don't bend to my will, the worst that can happen is that our association is terminated. By entering government into the mix, the element of coercion is also introduced. Now, if I don't bend to your will, you can call in the JBTs to seize me and my property, and to destroy me if I resist.
That does not seem to me to be a formula for freedom.
But that doesn't mean we're powerless to retaliate against private parties that have anti-gun policies. Companies generally have a comparatively small profit margin--the difference of a percentage point or two can make a difference between thriving or succumbing, especially when they face a lot of competition.
That's why, while I fully support
NRA's call to
boycott ConocoPhillips. And while there are other companies that also deserve this response, I think it's smart strategy to focus on only one to make an example out of for the rest.
I challenge you who feel strongly about this to contact ConocoPhillips management. I'm not going to give an email address, because that's too easy to do--it will make more of an impression to contact them directly,
either by mail or phone:
600 North Dairy Ashford (77079-1175)
P.O. Box 2197
Houston, TX 77252-2197
Phone 281.293.1000
Contact them today. And do it once a week until this is over. If you have one of their gas cards, cut it up and return it with a note telling them why. Make good on the boycott--refuse to buy their products. And spread the word--get your gun owner friends involved.
