- A California animal shelter will turn away adoptees who don't stand for gun restrictions.
- Kim Sill said The Shelter Hope Pet Shop added, "Where do you stand on gun control?" to their interview process.
- "If your beliefs are not in line with ours, we will not adopt a pet to you," Sill said.
A California animal shelter reportedly announced that they will refuse people who oppose gun control to adopt a pet.
Kim Sill, the founder of The Shelter Hope Pet Shop located in Thousand Oaks, California, said that the shelter would require those who are interviewed to adopt a pet to align with its beliefs, The Hill reported.
Sill announced in a newsletter in May that the shelter was adding a question on a person's stance on gun control to the screening process.
"We believe that if we can make our voices heard on how we feel we can make an impact. We do not support those who believe that the 2nd amendment gives them the right to buy assault weapons," Sill said in a May 31 newsletter. "If your beliefs are not in line with ours, we will not adopt a pet to you."
Sill mentioned how Thousand Oaks — a city about 40 miles away from Los Angeles —experienced a mass shooting a few years ago in 2018 when a 28-year-old Marine Corps vet killed at least 12 people at the Borderline Bar & Grill. In the newsletter, the founder said the gunman "came to our shop for community service hours" and believed it was a cover to scout the place.
"We believe he had scouted many locations, and we were one of them," Sill added. "We changed our policy about volunteering after that incident, but now we feel confident to go even further than that."
In addition, she told NBC News that the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, last month was "a tipping point." The incident sparked a push for gun control from politicians and advocates.
Sill said that donors who contribute to the business have threatened to pull their money due to the new policy, according to NBC News.
Other requirements to adopt a pet from this shop include being 25-years-old, having a stable home that will be physically inspected, and can't have a membership with the National Rifle Association. Sill emphasized that if a person lies about supporting the organization, "we will sue you for fraud."
In response to the Sill's policy, an NRA spokesperson told NBC News that "having this asinine political litmus test comes at the expense of needy and homeless dogs and cats."