Atlanta gym under fire over ban on police officers and military

Jim Chambers, who owns EAV Barbell Club in East Atlanta Village, ignited nationwide anger this week after word got out about his handwritten sign proclaiming: “no f***ing cops.”

“It’s not a new policy; this has been our policy since we opened, about a year and a half ago,” Chambers told HuffPost on Wednesday, saying he was fielding three to four angry phone calls per minute.

Chambers explained that his rule, which does not target veterans, is nothing personal and not an endorsement of violence. He and many of his members, who he said use his facility to hold activist meetings, are anti-military and pro “cop abolition,” he said. Some of them are also LGBTQ and of various racial backgrounds, and they don’t necessarily like the police.