Greetings Mrs. Dischler,
I wanted to take a moment to share with you that I have honored Heartland Credit Union’s decision to disallow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons by closing my accounts and terminating my membership with the credit union. My experience with Heartland as far as services provided and the quality of customer service had been exemplary, but I refuse to disarm myself to conduct my business at a facility advertised at the door as a self-defense free zone. If at some point in the future, Heartland re-evaluates their policy, I would be delighted to become a member once again. Similar concealed carry laws have passed in other states, and select businesses have opted to do just as Heartland Credit Union has and post – and many of those businesses in these other states later remove the signs once they realize there was nothing to fear. For now, I will conduct business with another financial institution (Associated Bank) which respects those individuals whom elect to carry a means of self-defense.
You noted the fact that you are a financial institution as the reason for posting – being a financial institution makes the area a higher priority target for a criminal and posting no firearms is a great disservice to your members who may wish to have the means to defend themselves. Posting such signs serves no purpose to protect the facility from criminals, if anything it advertises the fact to a would be criminal that he/she has no fear of a law-abiding citizen carrying a concealed weapon and may very well make your institution a more alluring target.
In closing I would like to share a few links to various stories written just in the past several months from around the nation that attest to precisely why I choose to carry a firearm for self-defense – a few of many that occur each and every year.
September 5, 2011 – Customer Robbed Outside Midtown Bank
http://www.kmbc.com/r/29083035/detail.html
October 06, 2011 – Man Robbed at Gunpoint Outside Bank in Flint
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/10/man_robbed_at_gunpoint_outside.html
October 24, 2011 – 82 Year Old Man Robbed Outside Bank
http://bradenton.wtsp.com/news/news/87377-82-year-old-man-robbed-outside-bank
November 20, 2011 – Woman Robbed and Shot Outside Bank
http://www.wnep.com/wnep-luz-woman-robbed-and-shot-outside-bank-20111120,0,4833628.story
November 28, 2011 - Man Beaten, Robbed Outside Bank
http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2011/11/28/man-beaten-robbed-outside-bank/
Respectfully yours,
Mike Steinhilber