Photo: Santa says no guns in store!

BB pal Eric Paulos sent us this delightful holiday photo of a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania storefront. Click to see the larger image.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Drew from Zhrodague

Good call, Eric, and hope to see you again at the next dorkbotpgh.

There’s a sign in front of the Keystone Plumbing Supply on the South Side Slopes, which asks to let the kids grow up, and not shoot them. I’ll take a picture next time I visit.

There’s been a bunch of shootings here over the last year, and a standoff not too far away last nite. Without getting all draconian with gun laws, the only way that these shootings are going to stop is either cops kill ‘em, or they shoot each other. Asking nicely not to pack heat when picking up a pack of smokes is a start.
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Bad, bad things are going to happen to people who make standard gnu-control arguments we’ve all seen a zillion times.

Make it fresh! Be entertaining or be disemvowelled!
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

The real Saint Nicholas wouldn’t need a gun. If someone needed suppressing, the real Saint Nicholas would have punched them out where they stood.

This is why, on December 9th, moderators are traditionally allowed to get away with one freebie high-handed quashing of difficult users. You can look it up.
arkizzle

Gnu-control! yay!
Mark Jaquith

Whether such so-called “opt-out” zones are effective is a matter of debate

I ignore these signs (except where it would be illegal to do so). What they don’t know can’t hurt them. Unless they’re going to have a weapon claim check service at the door, it’s too much of an inconvenience to comply.
Maggie Leber

At least in Pennsylvania, the courthouse is required by law to to provide secure storage for your weapon while you are inside. After all, that’s where you go to get the license. :-)
See 18 Pa.C.S.Â§913(e)

And I’m sure both Nicholas and his sidekick Black Peter know that old wisdom: “Never bring a fist to a gunfight.”

Hmm. Revise the truth to make it
“fresh”, lest it become “tired”. Not only do we have change we can believe in, the only thing we believe *is* change. Sounds viral. Gotta make sure that protein coat different every time an ANTI-body sees it.

At Narita, as elsewhere, signs are security theater. Metal detectors and cops are not so much; I suspect *they* (rather than the signs) are why Narita seems successful. For example: “The Narita immigration officer hit a 28-year-old Chinese man on Aug. 1, 2000 with a thick cardboard tube and cracked his skull while questioning him on suspicion he had sneaked through immigration at the airport.” I guess that’s successful.
Takuan

Maggie you crazy guy!
Point is, there almost no guns in Japan,everyone is safer and no one misses them.
sweetcraspy

In some states like Ohio, not obeying signs like this can get you arrested for criminal trespass, but in other states the signs have no legal status. An employee of the shop can always ask you to leave (for any reason) but you aren’t breaking any laws unless you refuse to go. There are some exceptions: for example, it’s typically illegal to carry into a courthouse and other state buildings, regardless of the state’s other rules.
mark

Yeah, I see these signs in some places in Florida too, where they can be a real nuisance. I liked the sign at Gander Mountain much better which said that firearms coming for repair or sale should be locked up and unloaded, but that concealed carry permit holders were welcome. Always important to know your customer.
Maggie Leber

#14: …nd nlss t’s slf-str lckbx, y r vltng lws by srrndrng yr wpn t smn y dn’t knw fr crtn s lglly llwd t psss t.

#10: “skng ncly nt t pck ht whn pckng p pck f smks s strt.”

strt n wht? Scrty thtr? Dlsn? nc wrm fzzy flng?

“Pls dn’t sht ppl” hs nvr bn n ffctv mns f prvntng vlnc. Nthr hs bn dsrmng th lw-bdng.

Bt “f y sslt smn y mght gt sht” s. Cptn Ml f “Srnty” sd t bst:

http://www.dmtvts.cm/pstrs/fr-ply-dmtvtnl-pstrs.jpg
Antinous

Maggie,

You seem to be pushing an agenda. Why don’t you take a day off?
Takuan

they have a sign like this in Japan, At Narita. Everyone thinks it works pretty well.
FredicvsMaximvs

I love the idea that somebody, somewhere, thinks that lives are going to be saved with these signs. Do you really think a nefarious gun-totin’ type is going to walk up, see the sign, mutter “Damn!,” and turn around.
Maggie Leber

Ths sgns wld b bttr cptnd: “Vctm Dsrmmnt Zn”.

The Gander Mountain distinction is because guns for repair or sale are likely to be handled, whereas concealed weapons tend to stay in their holsters. Most gun shops have similar rules…even one of our local shops that also has an indoor range.
Maggie Leber

http://www.mpsc.rg/~jhrdn/ngnfrnt.png
Anonymous

Snt, tht ld hypcrt, slls mny ty gns. Wht wld Chrstms b wtht thrllng mvs tht dpnd n nsn s f wpns? Th s f gns t dd thrll t “ntrtnmnt” s n ssntl prt f th mrcn myth tht s mbddd nt th sbcnscs f chldrn n ths cltr. Gt prblm? Wvng gn rnd wll fx t.
BritSwedeGuy

They’re employing the same illogic as the TSA with their no-fly list.
Blaine

Did he say where in Pittsburgh it was?
I wanna make a pilgrimage.
Halloween Jack

You don’t throw down on the S-Claus.
Ernunnos

Two icons of magical thinking, side by side.
crayonbeam

Is it a requirement of these signs that the staff follow the order as well? Because a busy criminal could really use some help deciding which businesses to target.
frogmarch

This is not a “no hold-ups allowed” sign.

You see these signs in any state that has a concealed-carry law–that is, while an individual has the right to carry a handgun if he/she so desires and fills out the necessary paperwork and/or takes the necessary training course (leaving aside the question of why a person would feel the need to do so), a business owner also has the right that such persons not be rollin’ strapped in their place of business.

Thus pretty much every bank, pawn shop, jewelry store, anarchist bookshop, biker bar, Whole Foods store, etc. in these states has a sign similar to this.

Whether such so-called “opt-out” zones are effective is a matter of debate–heated, of course, as are all debates on this topic.
Jack

I think people really miss the point: You put up a sticker or a sign and you theoretically remove responsibility.

So if someone does get shot on the property? Well, then that’s not the store owners fault! It’s been posted!
Maggie Leber

“Japan’s gun control does play an important role in the low Japanese crime rate, but not because of some simple relation between gun density and crime. Japan’s gun control is one inseparable part of a vast mosaic of social control. Gun control underscores the pervasive cultural theme that the individual is subordinate to society and to the Government. The same theme is reflected in the absence of protection against Government searches and prosecutions. The police are the most powerful on earth, partly because of the lack of legal constraints and particularly because of their social authority.” –David Kopel

Have a happy police state. :-)
Anonymous

Signs like that are all over in Ohio. I always laughed when I saw them, because my thought was “Well, yeah, that makes sense.” But I had just moved to Ohio, and didn’t realize that its legal to carry a concealed weapon. So I would assume its the same way there. Or the owner is from a state where its legal.