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Carrying a concealed weapon into a restaurant or bar


Should you be able to carry a concealed weapon into a restaurant or bar  

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  1. 1. Should you be able to carry a concealed weapon into a restaurant or bar

    • Yes
      6
    • No
      6


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I am of the opinion that a person licensed to carry a concealed weapon should be able to carry it anywhere. Many of the exceptions to the law are nothing but end run attempts by the anti gun lobby to restrict the person who carries a gun to the point where is become impossible to carry a gun and go anywhere. Cases of a registered gun being used to commit a crime are almost non existent. Having said that if there was a place where carrying a gun could be a bad idea a bar would have to be it. None the less if you are licensed to conceal carry you are aware of the dangers involved (a license to conceal carry is not like a fishing license you can buy at Wal-mart) conceal carry permits have a huge responsibility attached and if you can get one you are by definition taking that responsibility seriously. I can't see restricting the person who has that permit by telling them where they can and cannot carry their fire arms.

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I agree, I am also of that opinion. And I think the reason that lawmakers can't 'cut to the chase' is because they have ulterior motives. If a person has a permit, and the law says intoxicated incidences are unexceptable, then the carrier will know that and be extra-hesitant during those circumstances. Well, except I drink at home so I guess I just screwed myself.

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We're licensed to drive cars pretty much anywhere, but not when alcohol is involved. Why would a gun be any different than a car in this regard?

 

The simple fact is that we KNOW alcohol reduces inhibitions, but those same inhibitions are precisely what prevents us from acting poorly with weapons. If you remove the inhibitions, you increase the risk to an necessary degree.

 

Isn't a law prohibiting firearms around alcohol a law which just makes good sense, and is the mature/sensible thing to do?

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Obviously being drunk and armed is a bad idea, but we can drive to and from a bar and or a restaurant as long as we are not drunk, going to a bar or restaurant doesn't make you drunk. I honestly don't see the people who have committed to concealed carry doing a lot of drunken gun waving. If you are indeed caught drunk with your gun then I can see you loosing your permit.

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going to a bar or restaurant doesn't make you drunk.

That's a very fair point, and I have to concede that you've demolished my point above. We have some rather liberal concealed weapons laws here in Texas, and the way it's generally handled by letting the establishment decide for themselves. So, while all government buildings prohibit entry of people with weapons (courts, DMV, post office, etc.), the establishment (store, restaurant, bar, etc.) can choose for themselves whether or not to allow it (however, I must let you know, I still find guns in bars to be a bad idea... restaurants not so much).

 

So, anyway... these establishments post a clear and noticeable sign at the entry informing entrants whether or not firearms are permitted. For example, at my work there are such signs saying firearms are not allowed. Liquor stores have those same signs, as do many other establishments.

 

I suppose we could leave it up to the restaurant or bar to decide for themselves. If they don't want their customers bringing firearms on the premises, they post a sign outside. Violators will be prosecuted if caught.

 

Would you be cool with that approach? Instead of it being decided at the government level and writing it into law, I presume there would be no challenge if we allowed the establishment to make the decision for themselves, and if a gun carrier didn't like it they could always go elsewhere.

 

What do you think?

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But it is also about making the laws as simple as possible, I agree that going to a bar/restaurant does not make you drunk, but the risk to get it there is higher. So by banning guns from bar/restaurants you just eliminate the risk in the easiest way. No?

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INow, I agree, I am all about personal responsibility. The owner of the bar should have the say not the law. If I owned a bar the only gun i would want in would be my 12 Gage behind the bar. It should be up to the bar owner, restaurants are a bit less clear but the owner should have the say. Sadly there have been shootings in bars and restaurants but no registered guns were present just illegal hand guns. Lots of knee jerk reactions have limited where you can carry a fire arm. For instance if several teachers had been carrying a fire arm some of the school shootings could have been averted. I am all for personal responsibility, allow a person to carry a fire arm and then telling him he cannot carry in most public places is counter productive to the idea of an armed citizen since it's a sure bet illegal fire arm carriers do not pay the least attention to such restrictions.

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Your reasoning presupposes though that you are in favor of (legally) armed citizens...

 

Actually it presupposes two things, legal concealed carry laws and yes I do approve of armed citizens. As I said before you can't walk into a Wal-Mart and buy a license to carry a concealed weapon. Such a license is difficult to get and requires acceptance of a huge responsibility. Once you have acquired the license I can see no reason to restrict where you can carry it on public property. A private citizen should have the right to disallow a person to carry a weapon on to his or her property but I do not think a law is necessary to enforce that.

 

You should not get the idea that concealed weapons are being carried by every idiot with enough money to buy a Saturday night special. An armed citizen is required to be well trained in not only the use of his weapon but in the where and why and why nots of using a weapon. A gun is always the last resort, using a gun always brings irreversible consequences even if it is not fired.

 

Concealed carry laws also give criminals a reason to fear their victim, crime does indeed go down when concealed weapons are carried by a significant number of the population.

 

But this thread is about carrying a licensed gun into a restaurant or bar and whither or not the law should prevent this.

 

I say the establishment owner should be able to make the call, no need for yet another law.

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If I go into a bar and find out people in there are carrying heat I will leave that bar. Same’s true for me in restaurants. I’ve watched the last scene of “Pulp Fiction, and I don’t need stupid people with attitudes playing OK Corral while I’m trying to eat my lunch. I’d prefer that hand guns were simply outlawed in any place but the homes of those who own them. Anybody who says they feel safer in public places when they are around armed citizens are as much of a menace to society as those insecure pricks who carry around heat.

 

Isn’t there a law that says if you carry around heat then your bound to draw some fire?

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If I go into a bar and find out people in there are carrying heat I will leave that bar. Same’s true for me in restaurants. I’ve watched the last scene of “Pulp Fiction, and I don’t need stupid people with attitudes playing OK Corral while I’m trying to eat my lunch. I’d prefer that hand guns were simply outlawed in any place but the homes of those who own them. Anybody who says they feel safer in public places when they are around armed citizens are as much of a menace to society as those insecure pricks who carry around heat.

 

Isn’t there a law that says if you carry around heat then your bound to draw some fire?

 

Wow Larv, you seen Pulp Fiction! That makes you an expert on concealed carry laws. Question, who in pulp fiction was carrying the legal hand gun? How does two criminal assholes illegally carrying hand guns and going around shooting people have anything to do with conceal carry laws? Oh wow, if only there had been a law prohibiting carrying a hand gun into a restaurant all that shooting would have been avoided. Criminals always obey the law.

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