BOSSIER CITY, La., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A Chick-fil-A restaurant in the Shreveport, La., area did not sponsor a state legislator's "Guns and Coffee" event, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Carrie Kurlander, Chick-fil-A's communications director, said the operator of the restaurant in Bossier City asked Republican state Rep. Jeff Thompson to hold the event elsewhere, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Tuesday.
She said the restaurant has a policy of not hosting political events.
Thompson said he went to the restaurant, bought coffee for those who had come there for the event and announced he would hold a news conference in his office.
"We are buying coffee for anyone coming through Chick-fil-A in Bossier this morning but no 'rally' or event or anything," Thompson told the newspaper in a text message. "Nothing corporate about it. It is about choosing locally where you spend your money as a customer."
Thompson's event was a response to Starbucks' request that customers not bring guns into its outlets. Howard Schultz, Starbucks' chief executive officer, said in his announcement that an event by gun control opponents in a Starbucks "disingenuously portrays Starbucks as a champion of 'open carry.'"
