Florida gun-shop owner declares store 'Muslim-free zone'

A Florida gun shop owner has declared his business a “Muslim-free zone” after last week’s shooting rampage in Tennessee that left four Marines and a Navy sailor dead.

“I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community, and so effective immediately, I’m declaring Florida Gun Supply as a Muslim-free zone,” Andy Hallinan said in a video posted to his Inverness, Fla., gun shop’s Facebook page Saturday. “I will not arm and train those who wish to do harm to my fellow patriots.”

Investigators still haven’t nailed down the motive for the attacks on two military installations by Mohammod Abdulazeez, who was born in Kuwait but grew up mostly in Tennessee and was a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Two years before the rampage, Abdulazeez, who was Muslim, wrote about having suicidal thoughts and "becoming a martyr" after losing his job because of drugs, according to his diary and family ABC News reported.

It’s unclear how Hallinan plans to enforce his prohibition on Muslims. He told Florida television station WFLA he does not plan on asking his patrons about their religious affiliation.

In his video, which had already been viewed about 40,000 times by Tuesday morning, Hallinan makes clear that he sees it as his duty to keep Muslims out of his shop.

“We are in battle, patriots, but not only with Islamic extremism,” he said. “We’re also in battle against extreme political correctness that threatens our lives because if we can’t call evil 'evil' for fear of offending people, then we can’t really defeat our enemies.”

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that the prohibition is blatantly illegal and suggested Hallinan seems to be trying to stir up publicity for his gun shop. He said Hallinan has already agreed to allow a Florida member of CAIR to attend a concealed-weapons training course at his gun shop later this week.

Hallinan did not respond to a message seeking comment.

This isn't the first time a business has tried to declare a so-called Muslim-free zone. Last year, the owner of a shooting range in Hot Springs, Ark., said she was prohibiting Muslims from shooting on her property, citing security concerns after the Boston Marathon bombing and the Sept. 11 attacks. The Justice Department confirmed in April it was monitoring the Arkansas gun range after requests by CAIR and the ACLU to do so.

Hooper said two people, who are Hindu, were turned away earlier this year at that range after being asked by the owner whether they were Muslim. The two men, however, were not interested in pursuing a legal challenge against the range owner, Hooper said. CAIR knows of no other situations where the gun range has attempted to prohibit someone who is Muslim from using the range.

Since Hallinan declared his gun shop a Muslim-free zone, CAIR says a New Hampshire gun store made a similar declaration on Facebook but has since removed it.

CAIR called on the Justice Department to investigate possible federal civil rights violations by the Florida and New Hampshire businesses.

"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," Hooper said. "The Department of Justice must investigate these hate-filled and un-American business practices to determine whether federal civil rights laws are being violated."

In the video, Hallinan speaks with a Confederate flag draped behind him, which he said represented the “rich heritage of the South and the willingness of patriots to stand up against tyranny of all sorts.”

Hallinan also says racism was on the decline in the U.S. until President Obama took office.

“Now the leaders of our country are telling you that anytime a black man is shot by a white cop, it was because of race,” Hallinan said. “Don’t believe their lies.”