A Florida gun store owner has announced that Muslims are now banned from his gun shop.
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Hallinan announced his shop’s new policy as he sat against a Confederate flag back drop.
Andy Hallinan declared Florida Gun Supply in Inverness a “Muslim-free zone” Saturday in response to a Kuwait-born gunman’s shooting rampage in Chattanooga that killed four Marines and a sailor.
The video, posted this weekend, already has more than 21,000 page views and hundreds of comments. “I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots”.
“I’m not going to be asking every person who walks in what their religious background is. That’s not my business”, he told Tampa, Florida’s WFLA-TV. “As neighbors…. And I think he should get to know us, and not let fear and hatred divide us as Americans”, Florida’s Council on American-Islamic Relations executive director Hassan Shibly told WFTS.
“We are in battle patriots”, he goes on to say, “but not only with Isalmic extremism”.
He also says, as a part of his duty to protect his fellow patriots, the shooting range and concealed carry classes are free and open to the public – with the exception of Muslims presumably.
The owner of Florida Gun Supply in Inverness said last week’s attack in Chattanooga was the last straw.
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In the video, that representative also defends the Confederate flag as a symbol of “heritage”, blames the election of President Obama for a rise in racism and decries the “lies” of American leaders that “Islam is not evil.” “And I don’t believe that killing innocent people in the name of religion is the right thing to do, they are as American as you or I”, Hallinan said. The post was met with a mix of support and strong criticism, particularly from the Council of American-Islamic Relations, which is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate federal civil rights violations.
