A Guide To Gun Stores And Ranges Declaring 'Muslim-Free' Zones
An advocacy group likened the bans to "whites only" signs of an earlier era.
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Posted: 08/14/2015 08:06 PM EDT
The number of
gun stores and shooting ranges declaring themselves "Muslim-free
zones" appears to have accelerated since last month's shooting deaths of
five U.S. service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
At least four
U.S. gun shops have posted signs banning Muslims since the July 16 attacks,
which authorities said were committed by a 24-year-old Chattanooga Muslim with
a history of drug abuse and mental health problems. He was shot to death by law
enforcement.
Just this
week, a gun store in Oklahoma was reported to have posted a
sign in its window banning Muslims.
The Council
on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization,
has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate
the businesses for possible civil rights violations.
"These
bigoted declarations are no different than 'whites only' signs posted in
businesses during a period of our nation's history that we had hoped was
over," Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations's national
communications director, said in a press release.
Michael
McConnell, director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, said
establishments may not be covered by Title II of the U.S.Civil Rights Act, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of religion, if they qualify as "private
clubs." Every state has laws covering discrimination in "places of
public accommodation," McConnell said, but the types of discrimination
vary.
"If a
Muslim is denied service in one of these establishments, he or she might well
have a state law cause of action," McConnell said. But he cautioned:
"Unless one of these places actually denies service to an actual person, I
doubt anything could be done."
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