Please read this before you VOTE!
This has been the most contentious election season I can remember. It has also been the only election season of my 42 years that has had such a profound effect on me personally. My store is not Gander Mountain. I am the sole proprietor of a small business in a town that is built on small business. I have personal relationships with my clients and they like shopping here because I treat them as clients and not as customers. Before I let myself get to writing in earnest, I just want to state for the record that this business has always been apolitical until these folks arrived on the scene. Regardless of my personal political inclinations, the business had never picked a side until now.
It started for me over a month ago when an SUV with California tags and a Hillary sticker in the front window pulled into the lot on Saturday September 17th and started downloading tables and chairs into the space next door to me. By September 20th, the Clinton campaigners had begun appearing in our town from New Jersey, California, North Carolina and other locales. While there are times that my tin foil hat requires a chin strap, I don’t believe that the location of the Hillary for President campaign office ending up next to the only functional gun shop in Boca Raton is in any way a coincidence.
The effects of their presence next to my business have been profound. My business is down just over 50% since their arrival based upon monthly averages and those averages do NOT account for the fact that it’s an election year. That decline in business has an effect on my family. The campaign have tied up parking so that people could not gain access to my shop both through events and daily activities and have dominated the parking lot with people on multiple occasions. They have attempted to draw me into conflict by baiting me through activities like taking pictures of my license plate and the license plates of clients of the shop. They have attempted to engage me in contentious conversation when I open my door to survey the damage they are doing to my business all in the hopes of getting me to do something that would paint me and my business in a poor light, not to mention the firearm industry as a whole.
I understand why they are doing what they are doing. They have nothing to lose and I have everything. It’s an agreeable position for them to be in. In a little over two weeks, they can all go back to wherever they came from and we, as residents and business owners in Boca Raton, will still be here. The swath of damage that they leave in their wake is just that…behind them. I have been called deplorable by their candidate and my business has been called worse by the people campaigning for her. The high road is the route least travelled and that’s the road I will stay on.
I’m writing this piece in the hopes of showing them that they may have something to lose after all…even if it’s just one vote, it’s worth it. I’m writing this piece earlier than I wanted to, but I feel it’s necessary to get this out during EARLY VOTING. I encourage all of you to exercise your Constitutional right and responsibility and vote your conscience this year. While it’s an easy decision for me, I know that it’s not such an easy decision for many people. This years election feels more like a psychological assault on the public than a democratic process. The fire of division and vitriol that is being spread into our society is palpable which is saying something considering the divide that has been built up over the last eight years. It’s a shame that this great country has been put in the position we are now in. You can make a difference. Please vote. As always, thank you for reading the Blog at gunshinearms.com.
