Question: News article:

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has a message for gun owners: Please don't bring your weapons into our stores. 
  
 Schultz told CNN that the company is not instituting a ban, and is simply making a request "through the lens of civility and respect." 
  
 The company was roped into the gun debate last month when a group of gun owners announced plans online for a "Starbucks Appreciation Day" in recognition of the chain's policy of allowing gun owners to bring in their weapons where permitted by state law. 
  
 In response, the Newtown Coalition For Corporate Responsibility -- a group including family members of victims from last year's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- published an open letter calling on Schultz to ban guns in all Starbucks (SBUX) stores. One of those signing the letter was the father of Lauren Rousseau, a substitute teacher who was killed at the school who also worked at a nearby Starbucks. 
  
 "That hit home very hard for all of us at Starbucks," Schultz said. But he said the Newtown shooting did not prompt Starbucks' request to gun owners. 
  
 "We've seen advocates on both sides of this debate use Starbucks as a staging ground," Schultz said. "Starbucks is not a policy maker. We're not pro- or anti-gun," but believes that guns "should not be part of the Starbucks experience." He said people carrying guns into Starbucks have made other customers uncomfortable. 
  
 Starbucks is publishing an open letter from Schultz on the subject in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and a number of other newspapers. 
  
 Related: Read Schultz's letter 
  
 Schultz said customers who bring in guns will still be served and won't be asked to leave. Starbucks isn't imposing a ban on firearms because "we don't want to put our people in the position of having to confront somebody who's carrying a weapon," he said. 
  
 There are 43 states that have so-called "open carry" laws meaning you can visibly carry a licensed firearm in public. Many businesses, including Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT) and Home Depot (HD) say if guns are allowed in the state, they're allowed in their stores. 
  
 But open carry laws don't require businesses to allow guns on their properties and other companies, including AMC Theaters, Peet's Coffee and Disney (DIS) theme parks have banned firearms on their property. 
  
 Related: Watch Schultz's full interview on guns here 
  
 The open letter is not the first foray by Schultz into public policy debates. The CEO has previously spoken out in support of gay marriage, and encouraged business leaders to withhold political donations until Washington gets its fiscal house in order. Speaking out, Schultz said, is part of part of the corporation's responsibility as a member of the community. 
  
 "I know there will be criticism of the company and me personally," he said. "We've tried to be as empathetic and as sensitive as possible." 
  
 Related: Starbucks won't cut benefits because of Obamacare 
  
 The CEO also said that his personal views on guns did not factor into the policy change. He refuses to comment on whether or not he is a gun owner. 
  
 "I don't think this is about Howard Schultz," he said. "This is about Starbucks Coffee Company, our customers and whether I am or am not a gun owner is not the issue." ||||| Dear Fellow Americans, 
  
 Few topics in America generate a more polarized and emotional debate than guns. In recent months, Starbucks stores and our partners (employees) who work in our stores have been thrust unwillingly into the middle of this debate. That’s why I am writing today with a respectful request that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas. 
  
 From the beginning, our vision at Starbucks has been to create a “third place” between home and work where people can come together to enjoy the peace and pleasure of coffee and community. Our values have always centered on building community rather than dividing people, and our stores exist to give every customer a safe and comfortable respite from the concerns of daily life. 
  
 We appreciate that there is a highly sensitive balance of rights and responsibilities surrounding America’s gun laws, and we recognize the deep passion for and against the “open carry” laws adopted by many states. (In the United States, “open carry” is the term used for openly carrying a firearm in public.) For years we have listened carefully to input from our customers, partners, community leaders and voices on both sides of this complicated, highly charged issue. 
  
 Our company’s longstanding approach to “open carry” has been to follow local laws: we permit it in states where allowed and we prohibit it in states where these laws don’t exist. We have chosen this approach because we believe our store partners should not be put in the uncomfortable position of requiring customers to disarm or leave our stores. We believe that gun policy should be addressed by government and law enforcement—not by Starbucks and our store partners. 
  
 Recently, however, we’ve seen the “open carry” debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening. Pro-gun activists have used our stores as a political stage for media events misleadingly called “Starbucks Appreciation Days” that disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of “open carry.” To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores. Some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction, including soliciting and confronting our customers and partners. 
  
 For these reasons, today we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas—even in states where “open carry” is permitted—unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel. 
  
 I would like to clarify two points. First, this is a request and not an outright ban. Why? Because we want to give responsible gun owners the chance to respect our request—and also because enforcing a ban would potentially require our partners to confront armed customers, and that is not a role I am comfortable asking Starbucks partners to take on. Second, we know we cannot satisfy everyone. For those who oppose “open carry,” we believe the legislative and policy-making process is the proper arena for this debate, not our stores. For those who champion “open carry,” please respect that Starbucks stores are places where everyone should feel relaxed and comfortable. The presence of a weapon in our stores is unsettling and upsetting for many of our customers. 
  
 I am proud of our country and our heritage of civil discourse and debate. It is in this spirit that we make today’s request. Whatever your view, I encourage you to be responsible and respectful of each other as citizens and neighbors. 
  
 Sincerely, 
  
 Howard Schultz ||||| Coffee chain Starbucks Corp has asked U.S. customers to leave their guns at home after being dragged into an increasingly fractious debate over U.S. gun rights in the wake of multiple mass shootings. 
  
 While many U.S. restaurant chains and retailers do not allow firearms on their properties, Starbucks' policy had been to default to local gun laws, including "open carry" regulations in many U.S. states that allow people to bring guns into stores. 
  
 In August, this led gun-rights advocates to hold a national "Starbucks Appreciation Day" to thank the firm for its stance, pulling the company deeper into the fierce political fight. 
  
 Locations for Starbucks Appreciation Day events included Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were shot dead in an elementary school in December. Starbucks closed that shop before the event was scheduled to begin. 
  
 Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in an open letter to customers late Tuesday that Starbucks Appreciation Day events "disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of 'open carry.' To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores." 
  
 The coffee chain did not, however, issue an outright ban on guns in its nearly 7,000 company-owned cafes, saying this would potentially require staff to confront armed customers. 
  
 The Seattle-based company hoped to give "responsible gun owners a chance to respect its request," Schultz said. 
  
 The CEO told Reuters the policy change was not the result of the Newtown Starbucks Appreciation Day event, which prompted the Newtown Action Alliance to call on the company to ban guns at all of its U.S. stores. Nor was it in response to the mass shootings this week at the Washington Navy Yard. 
  
 "We've seen the 'open carry' debate become increasingly uncivil and, in some cases, even threatening," Schultz wrote, noting that "some anti-gun activists have also played a role in ratcheting up the rhetoric and friction," at times soliciting and confronting employees and patrons. 
  
 "We found ourselves in a position where advocates on both sides of the issue were using Starbucks as a staging ground for their own political position," said Schultz, who in the past has willingly waded into the public debate over the U.S. national debt and gay marriage. 
  
 Schultz said more people had been bringing guns into Starbucks shops over the last six months, prompting confusion and dismay among some customers and employees. 
  
 "I'm not worried we're going to lose customers over this," he told Reuters. "I feel like I've made the best decision in the interest of our company." 
  
 Starbucks' request does not apply to authorized law enforcement personnel. 
  
 (Editing by Philip Barbara and Mark Potter) |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?
Answer: – With another mass shooting about to inevitably shove gun control back into the national conversation, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is begging you: Please, leave Starbucks out of it. "I am writing today with a respectful request that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores," Schultz writes in an open letter published in several newspapers, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Starbucks, he complains, has "been thrust unwillingly into the middle of this debate." But Schultz stops short of actually banning guns, in part because he doesn't want to ask employees to "confront armed customers." He tells CNN that Starbucks is "not pro- or anti-gun," but believes that guns "should not be part of the Starbucks experience." The move isn't a direct response to the Navy Yard shooting, he tells Reuters, adding that he's "not worried we're going to lose customers over this."