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Pamela Beck, 51, of Pinellas Park, was standing at the coffee shop’s counter about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, clutching several shopping bags and her purse and was about to pay for her coffee.

As Beck went to put down her purse, it dropped, and the .25-caliber semi-automatic Titan handgun she had in there went off, said St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz. The bullet hit her friend, 38-year-old Amie Peterson, who was standing behind Beck in line. Peterson was hit in the leg, above the knee, and was treated at Bayfront Medical Center and released, Puetz said.

Beck told police her father had given her the weapon, but she forgot which purse she had left it in before going shopping, Puetz said.

“She was unaware she was carrying the weapon,” he said. http://tbo.com/pinellas-county/woman-accidentally-shoots-friend-at-st-
pete-starbucks-b82491198z1]

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Once again, the myth that gun carriers protect themselves and others has exploded. Two recent shootings at Starbucks, which welcomes guns in its stores, show why responsible corporations ban lethal weapons on their property. In both shooting cases, women were given guns by their fathers to "protect" them, only to drop their purses and shoot, or almost shoot, other customers.

At a Cheyenne, Wyoming Starbucks in 2011, a juvenile girl dropped her purse, discharging her gun. "The bullet missed John Basile, 43, by about 12 inches," reported the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The unidentified girl had never taken a hunter safety class or any kind of formal firearms training and had been encouraged by her mother to point the gun at a "bad person" if she were in trouble. Right.

This week, it happened again. Another woman given a gun by her father dropped her purse and discharged her weapon at a Starbucks, this time in St. Petersburg, Florida. The woman said she'd forgotten the gun was in her purse and had never taken it out to clean or service it, reported the Tampa Bay Times. A customer was shot in the leg.

The women's inability to defend themselves should surprise no one. Despite the bluster of gun rights activists, carriers do not make themselves or others safe.

Starbucks has ignored pleas from customers and gun safety advocates to ban lethal weapons in its stores which is the right of property owners. And, in the height of hypocrisy, it issued a statement following the Florida shooting which said, "At Tyrone Square Mall, our primary concern is always for the safety of our customers and store employees, and we are thankful that the injuries sustained are reported to be non-life threatening." What?

Would a business whose "primary concern is always for the safety of our customers and store employees" allow lethal weapons on its premises? http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/martharosenberg/second-starbucks-sho
oting-highlights-danger-gun-carry-extremists-0

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