KITTERY -- Dozens of Maine and New Hampshire residents gathered at Kittery Town Hall Monday, alongside elected officials from both states, demanding the Kittery Trading Post stop selling “weapons of mass murder.”

Monday’s press conference followed the June 25 mailing of letters signed by various state representatives addressed to Kittery Trading Post and its owner Kevin Adams, calling management “unresponsive” to their prior requests. The representatives asked the store, which has been in operation since 1938, to break its silence on gun violence, which Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods have both done since incidents of mass killings.

The letters were signed by Maine state Reps. Deane Rykerson, Lydia Blume and Patty Hymanson, as well as New Hampshire state Reps. Peter Somssich, Tamara Le, Gerry Ward, Laura Pantelakos, Becky McBeath, Pamela Gordon, Jacqueline Cali-Pitts, and state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark.

NO MILITARY WEAPONS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS!
Semiautomatic rifles have been used in some of the country’s deadliest shootings, such as those in Newtown, Orlando, San Bernardino and Las Vegas. Do we really want these weapons of mass destruction in our neighborhood? Kittery Trading Post continues to sell these assault weapons that can quickly kill large numbers of people. Unlike KTP, major retailers like Dicks sporting goods, Walmart, L.L. Bean, and REI have suspended sales of high capacity weaponry.

The school shooting on February 14th in Parkland, Florida, reignited the passionate debate about the dangers of assault-style rifles, such as the AR-15 used to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. However, what hunter or any other person needs an assault weapon for daily use? These are weapons of war and should not be available to those outside the military or law enforcement.

On Saturday, September 1st, 2018, we are protesting in front of Kittery Trading Post to call an end to their sale of these high-capacity weapons. Please Join us.

KTP Protest signup sheet
We need volunteers for the protest for 2 different shifts to make sure our presence is known.

To sign up, select a row below

awshoot wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 1:58 am Has REI ever sold firearms of any kind?

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:06 am

awshoot wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 1:58 am Has REI ever sold firearms of any kind?

Not as far as I know. What REI has done is cut (or threaten to cut) business ties to companies that sell gun products. The article fudged that point.

KITTERY – A group of anti-gun protesters who had previously threatened a boycott against Kittery Trading Post found themselves outnumbered and out-messaged this morning outside the iconic Maine business.

The gun control protesters, spurred by Rep. Lydia Blume, Rep. Patty Hymanson and Rep. Deane Rykerson, only mustered about 25 people to join in the protest of Kittery Trading Post. A group of gun rights supporters who pulled together a counter-rally on short notice had an estimated 50 people on hand to support Kittery Trading Post and defend the Second Amendment rights of Mainers.

In response to the continued attack on their business by protesters, Kittery Trading Post minced no words, defiantly posting a message on their large outdoor sign which scrolled through a list of rights under the heading of “BILL OF RIGHTS” before closing out saying “IN MATTERS OF PRINCIPLE, STAND LIKE A ROCK.”

Possible sign slogans:
• NO MILITARY WEAPONS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
• ASSAULT RIFLES ARE NOT FOR KILLING DEER OR DEFENDING HOMES
• 2ND AMENDMENT ENDORSED MUSKETS, NOT AK-47’S
• WHO KILLS DEER WITH AK-47’S?
• WHAT WAS YOUR SCARIEST DAY IN SCHOOL?
• SELL MUSKETS, NOT ASSAULT WEAPONS!
• PROTECT KIDS, NOT GUNS
• 96 PEOPLE ARE SHOT EVERY DAY
• WAS YOUR SCHOOL EVER LOCKED DOWN?
• KTP SELLS GUNS THAT KILL MANY FAST!

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:56 am 25 attendees, sounds like an issue driven by Everytown and the DNC that isn't a huge concern locally. New Yorkers trying to fuck up adjoining states like they did in Vermont.

DispositionMatrix wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:13 am

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:56 am 25 attendees, sounds like an issue driven by Everytown and the DNC that isn't a huge concern locally. New Yorkers trying to fuck up adjoining states like they did in Vermont.

Maine is in a strong position for its gun laws to be ruined.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosm ... micide.htm

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:41 pm Yet Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have the lowest homicide rates in the US.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosm ... micide.htm

NO MILITARY WEAPONS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS!
Semiautomatic rifles have been used in some of the country’s deadliest shootings, such as those in Newtown, Orlando, San Bernardino and Las Vegas. Do we really want these weapons of mass destruction in our neighborhood? Kittery Trading Post continues to sell these assault weapons that can quickly kill large numbers of people. Unlike KTP, major retailers like Dicks sporting goods, Walmart, L.L. Bean, and REI have suspended sales of high capacity weaponry.

The school shooting on February 14th in Parkland, Florida, reignited the passionate debate about the dangers of assault-style rifles, such as the AR-15 used to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. However, what hunter or any other person needs an assault weapon for daily use? These are weapons of war and should not be available to those outside the military or law enforcement.

On Saturday, September 1st, 2018, we are protesting in front of Kittery Trading Post to call an end to their sale of these high-capacity weapons. Please Join us.
-The Kittery Trading Post Action Group

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:41 pm Yet Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have the lowest homicide rates in the US.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosm ... micide.htm

featureless wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:10 pm

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:41 pm Yet Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have the lowest homicide rates in the US.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosm ... micide.htm

Never let facts interfere with optics and opportunity! Especially when it allows erosion of the right to self defense or checking your ability to throw out your friendly fascist regime.

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:56 am 25 attendees, sounds like an issue driven by Everytown and the DNC that isn't a huge concern locally. New Yorkers trying to fuck up adjoining states like they did in Vermont.

highdesert wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:41 pm Yet Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have the lowest homicide rates in the US.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosm ... micide.htm

With a photo ID and cash or a credit card, almost any of us (18 years or older) can walk into the Kittery Trading Post and purchase a military-style semi-automatic assault weapon and some high capacity magazines of 40 rounds each. The NICS background check only takes a few minutes. If you’re not registered as a felon, a fugitive, or committed to a mental institution, you are good to go. And unlike military personnel and police officers who go through extensive training before handling such weapons, you don’t need to bother with such nonsense. No training, no license, no hassle. You can walk right out into the KTP parking lot with your new assault weapon, load it, and start shooting - at close to a hundred rounds per minute.

Unless and until these types of assault weapons and high capacity magazines (generally considered more than ten rounds) are outlawed, the Kittery Trading Post certainly has every right to sell them. Kevin Adams heads up the family-owned business - and, at the end of the day, it’s his call. I was among those who reached out to Mr. Adams last spring in the wake of the Parkland High School massacre and the relentless onslaught of mass shootings. I asked for 15 minutes of his time to discuss my concerns. I explained that I had been a regular KTP customer for 16 years (camping gear, kayaks, winter jackets, hiking boots, etc. for a family of five) and that I was also a local high school principal. I was completely ignored - as were several others who reached out to him. Not at all what any of us expected from the owner of what we once thought of as a local community-oriented, family business.

I finally woke up to the fact that it wasn’t enough for the national crisis of gun violence to be among the various things I cared about. It needed to be in my “top three” - at a minimum. While the NRA - a group that is literally a fraction of a percentage point of the US population - has been singularly focused and relentlessly fighting any and all attempts at common sense gun regulation, the vast majority of Americans -- dismayed by the gun violence and convinced that guns are indeed part of the problem (not the only part, but definitely a part) - have not been able to keep up. But we must. Not in fits and starts, but relentlessly - everyday, today, tomorrow, months from now, and years from now.