Here's what I got back from Lowes and my original message:<BR>Dear Valued Lowe's Customer,<BR>Thank you for your recent email regarding Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. The following addresses concerns expressed by yourself and the NRA about certain firearm safety-related content on Lowe's web site and the web site of our non-profit home safety organization, Lowe's Home Safety Council. <P>Lowe's is a home improvement retailer, and it is certainly not our intent to take a public policy position on the overall issue of Second Amendment rights in the U.S. The information in question was provided to Lowe's by a third party, the Consumer Federation of America, who had obtained it from Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. We understand that certain elements of that information may be viewed as being subjective; therefore, it has been removed from our web site. Frankly, a more careful reading of that information by our staff, before it was posted, may have eliminated this issue before it occurred.<P>As the world's second largest home improvement retailer, Lowe's sells many of the products used to make America's homes a safer place to live. For that reason, we're very proud of our efforts to promote home safety awareness among our customers and the public at large. However, as it relates to firearms, Lowe's position is to simply encourage the safe storage of firearms in and around the home - period.<P>Thanks again for making us aware of your thoughts on this issue. We certainly regret any confusion the information on our web site may have caused.<P>If you would like to discuss this issue further with a staff member of the NRA, Bill Parkerson- Director of Research and Information can be reached at (703)267-1187.<P>Sincerely,<P>Lowe's Customer Care<BR>Lowe's Home Improvement<P><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From:jackfish<BR>Date: Thursday, July 19, 2001 02:11 PM<BR>To:
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[email protected]]<BR>Subject: Lowes: (Lowes.Com Feedback)<P><BR>Consumer Message: I think before you relate statistics about home safety you should get your facts straight. You state that homes with firearms are more dangerous than those without. The research that you based that assertion on may have been flawed. It failed to account for the thousands of times a firearm in the home prevents harm to that household.<BR> <A HREF="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,7217,00.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,7217,00.html</A> <P>Please reconsider the language you have used. Perhaps you could replace it with "Households with firearms face a slight risk of injury or death. That risk can be reduced dramatically by practicing proper firearms safety. If you have a gun in your home, obtain firearms safety training and always store guns safely."<P>I thank you for your concern about home safety. Please consider how you present your information in the future. It might be a good idea to get a second opinion instead of relying on biased information from your anti-gun partners.