FBD
03-22-2013, 01:30 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297040/Americas-gun-free-zones-exposed-mobile-app-helps-pistol-packing-activists-AVOID-shopping-anti-gun-businesses.html#ixzz2OCsXSbuI
Mobile app finds America's 'gun-free zones' so pistol-packing activists can AVOID shopping at anti-Second Amendment businesses
Newtown massacre was in a 'gun-free zone'
App tells users where zones are, helps gun owners avoid prohibited areas
Developer tells gun activists to boycott highlighted anti-gun businesses
'I'm sure that Piers Morgan will use it for the opposite reason'
Second Amendment activists in the United States now have a mobile app that will tell them where their guns aren't welcome - and where they can protest by boycotting businesses in so-called 'gun-free zones.'
The December school shooting in Newtown Connecticut occurred in such a zone. U.S. schools and other government buildings are generally inside them. Gun control activists say they make everyone safer, while gun-rights proponents insist they only serve to tell criminals where they can strike without fear of return-fire.
The Gun-Free Zone app is aimed at both groups. It's available for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, and it identifies the 20 nearest businesses, churches, schools and other commercial establishments, telling a user if each one is firearm-friendly or gun-free.
And for pistol-packing enthusiasts, it can tell them where to enforce boycotts.
'By having the app in everybody's hands, they can decide: If you feel strongly about the gun issue, vote with your wallet. Don't patronize this store, patronize this [other] store,' app creator John Peden told KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah.
'If my gun is not welcome in your store, my money is not welcome either,' Peden said in an interview with The Daily Caller.
But he allowed that gun control-obsessed celebrities could just as easily use the app to hang out ni the gun-free zones, where they might feel safer.
'I'm sure that Piers Morgan will use it for the opposite reason,' Peden said. 'He's going to want to shop in all the gun free zones he can.'
Peden conceded that criminals might use his app to target victims in places, like Newtown, where armed personal defense is illegal. But he also said he thinks that makes gun-free zones more dangerous places for law-abiding citizens, and therefore worth avoiding.
By steering clear of the zones, he said, 'me and my family will stay safe, and we have less chance of being involved in a shooting at a mall or something like that.'
Eventually, Peden predicted, every commercial business in America will be tagged by the app's users. All that crowdsourced data is constantly shared with everyone who has downloaded it -- several thousand so far. And the app is free.
Utah gun-control activist Gary Sackett told the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah that the app will just give gun owners new ideas about places where they can lawfully get together in large numbers.
'It is not something that is designed to increase public safety,' Sackett said, 'if it is to encourage people to head off to the nearest watering hole that might be gun-friendly.'
Mobile app finds America's 'gun-free zones' so pistol-packing activists can AVOID shopping at anti-Second Amendment businesses
Newtown massacre was in a 'gun-free zone'
App tells users where zones are, helps gun owners avoid prohibited areas
Developer tells gun activists to boycott highlighted anti-gun businesses
'I'm sure that Piers Morgan will use it for the opposite reason'
Second Amendment activists in the United States now have a mobile app that will tell them where their guns aren't welcome - and where they can protest by boycotting businesses in so-called 'gun-free zones.'
The December school shooting in Newtown Connecticut occurred in such a zone. U.S. schools and other government buildings are generally inside them. Gun control activists say they make everyone safer, while gun-rights proponents insist they only serve to tell criminals where they can strike without fear of return-fire.
The Gun-Free Zone app is aimed at both groups. It's available for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, and it identifies the 20 nearest businesses, churches, schools and other commercial establishments, telling a user if each one is firearm-friendly or gun-free.
And for pistol-packing enthusiasts, it can tell them where to enforce boycotts.
'By having the app in everybody's hands, they can decide: If you feel strongly about the gun issue, vote with your wallet. Don't patronize this store, patronize this [other] store,' app creator John Peden told KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah.
'If my gun is not welcome in your store, my money is not welcome either,' Peden said in an interview with The Daily Caller.
But he allowed that gun control-obsessed celebrities could just as easily use the app to hang out ni the gun-free zones, where they might feel safer.
'I'm sure that Piers Morgan will use it for the opposite reason,' Peden said. 'He's going to want to shop in all the gun free zones he can.'
Peden conceded that criminals might use his app to target victims in places, like Newtown, where armed personal defense is illegal. But he also said he thinks that makes gun-free zones more dangerous places for law-abiding citizens, and therefore worth avoiding.
By steering clear of the zones, he said, 'me and my family will stay safe, and we have less chance of being involved in a shooting at a mall or something like that.'
Eventually, Peden predicted, every commercial business in America will be tagged by the app's users. All that crowdsourced data is constantly shared with everyone who has downloaded it -- several thousand so far. And the app is free.
Utah gun-control activist Gary Sackett told the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah that the app will just give gun owners new ideas about places where they can lawfully get together in large numbers.
'It is not something that is designed to increase public safety,' Sackett said, 'if it is to encourage people to head off to the nearest watering hole that might be gun-friendly.'