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The news just gets better and better for action-demanding moms. First, the ostensibly anti-gun Everytown for Gun Safety video they recently released had the beneficial knock-on effect of beautifully illustrating the the advisability of gun ownership and armed self defense for tens of thousands of women around the country. Then Moms Demand Action had an overwhelming turnout of almost two hundred fired-up attendees at this past weekend’s Denver bootcamp and sleepover. Now, as the Wall Street Journal is reporting, it turns out the problem’s bigger than they imagined. There are actually plenty of smaller, local establishments across the country that are only too happy to welcome customers who come in strapped . . .

It’s refreshing that the WSJ managed to get the facts straight about what Moms Demand Action actually accomplished — or didn’t — in getting a few national retailers to issue non-ban gun bans.

Last year, Starbucks asked its customers not to bring guns into its more than 12,000 cafes in the U.S. In May, Sonic, Chipotle, and Chili’s Grill & Bar made similar requests after participants at gun-rights demonstrations brought rifles and semi-automatic weapons into their outlets to advocate for the right to display weapons in public. The chains didn’t institute outright bans, only requested that patrons leave them behind.

Shannon’s also given a sporting chance to spout some of her rote inanities.

“Restaurants routinely protect their patrons from second-hand smoke, so it makes sense they would go out of their way to protect them from bullets as well,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which has pressured larger companies to adopt more-restrictive policies on guns.

But to hear the WSJ tell it, there’s no shortage of local joints out there that welcome an armed clientele. Which should also be good news for Shannon and her dozens of MDA members! This means they should be able to quit their gym memberships and save money on all those Zumba classes since they’re going to be awfully busy trying to picket the ever-growing number of gun-friendly bidnesses out there. Especially when other retailers learn how non-problematic gun-toters are.

“Most that come in are responsible and have their guns holstered,” said Jay Laze, owner of All Around Pizza and Deli. Last year, Mr. Laze began giving 15% discounts to diners who either were carrying openly or had concealed-carry permits. “It was good for business, and I’ve hopefully educated some folks on the Second Amendment and the right to carry.”

Bryan Crosswhite, owner of a The Cajun Experience, which gives 10% discounts on Wednesdays to those with guns, said he, too, had experienced no serious problems with his program, adding that he won’t serve alcohol to patrons openly carrying. On occasion, he said, people used his restaurant to showcase some of their more serious firearms. “I had a guy show up with an AR-15,” he said. “I told him to go home.”

Imagine that. Business owners who know how to take a common sense, responsible approach to customers who choose to carry firearms — as well as those who sometimes choose to do it in a way that may make other patrons uncomfortable. It’s almost like respecting people’s Second Amendment rights is actually good for business.

 

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65 COMMENTS

    • 112% of women and children who live in countries that allow private ownership of firearms, are killed every year with Glock AK-15 shotguns!

    • Apparently not. I was in an e-mail exchange with a HuffPo writer that stretched over three days concerning precisely that question. She never responded substantively to the falsities I pointed out, other than to eventually say I was just “quibbling” about numbers. Made-up numbers, fantasies about “assault weapons”, and fallacious “logic” evidently are indeed “all they got”.

  1. I’ll bet the restaurants that advertise open/concealed carry welcome signs don’t get robbed as much as those that display NO GUNS ALLOWED or GUN FREE ZONE signs.
    .

  2. “Most that come in are responsible and have their guns holstered,”

    I would hope that all would have there guns holstered.

    • Yeah, I noticed that too, I wonder what’s up with that. I would hope that ALL side arms were holstered.
      I liked that part about the 15% off for permit holders
      Just out of curiosity, when open carrying a long gun, what do you do with it when you sit down in a chair at the table?

    • Possibly that means rifles, but most likely it’s exactly what you think: handguns unholstered. I see it before every CHL class: grown ass men milling about the parking lot playing show and tell like little boys with pollywogs on the playground. Nobody can wait a few hours until we’re inside the range and have completed qualification.

      It’s extremely rare that no one participates, to some degree, in these presentations. Some of the older, more too cool for school types, may loiter around the perimeter, but they’re looking, listening and lusting after someone’s gun, as someone invariably shows up with something slightly out of the ordinary and captures everyone’s easy attention.

      Would not surprise me in the least that that’s exactly what’s happening at these places, too. Everyone gets all excited and tribal, being among kindred 2A enthusiasts, and out come the guns for show and tell.

  3. “Restaurants routinely protect their patrons from second-hand smoke, so it makes sense they would go out of their way to protect them from bullets as well,” said Shannon Watts

    Secondhand smoke has been scientifically shown to cause health risks. Legal carry of firearms has not.

    But that sort of rational thought escapes the likes of Shannon Watts and friends. They know that smoking rates were reduced by tactics that included shaming and ostracizing smokers. Ditto for DUI. So they’re simply applying tactics that have worked in other campaigns that have resulted in large-scale behavioral change. The antis have admitted as much — heck, they’ve bragged about it.

    Aided by the majority of media outlets’ misunderstanding of or flat-out refusal to accurately report real statistics, it’s no wonder so many people think gun-related deaths are on the rise.

    • That’s what I was thinking, shouldn’t they just be concerned with second hand bullets? As long as you hit your target and make sure of what’s behind them it’s none of their business if you shoot.

    • Don’t you like to pull your gun out after a meal, and relax by shooting randomly around the room?

      Apparently Shannon does, because that’s the only way the smoke -> bullets analogy would apply.

      • Well you know.. if the service is slow someone might want to shoot up the place.

        After all, nobody has any self-control anymore. Especially men! They’re all angry rapists and just icky-poo!.

    • “Secondhand smoke has been scientifically shown to cause health risks.”

      Actually, no, it hasn’t. The Church of Antismokerism managed to get a bunch of bogus bullsh!it ramrodded through, but the actual scientific studies that refuted the Antismokerists’ claims got buried because they were actual science, which meant they had big words and so were incomprehensible to the people who weren’t clever enough to get out of litigation jury duty.

      In fact the antigun nuts picked up a lot of the tactics of lies and misinformation from the antismokerists, as well as the global warmingists.

      • First climate change is real. All you have to do is look around to see it happening. But thinking that you can change it is like telling someone to “PUT THAT MATCH OUT.” inside a burning building. Second, for every lie told by the tobacco companies you can expect to hear 10 by the anti smoking organizations. It is true that x amount of smokers die every year. They die in car accidents, from old age, dog bites, house fires and heart failure brought about by the 16 thousand greasy hamburgers they consumed. So okay they didn’t actually lie to you the smokers are dead. Expect to see the same kind of campaign against gun owners with the same biased reporting. If gun owners sit around saying “You can take my gun out of my cold dead hand.” expect to have your gun taken out of your cold dead hand, all the while the camera and media will have you looking like public enemy number one. Gun owners need to take control of this runaway bus or their gun rights are going to be gone. If anyone thinks for one moment that the Second Amendment can’t be repealed then they are not living in the real world.

  4. “This means they should be able to quit their gym memberships and save money on all those Zumba classes since they’re going to be awfully busy trying to picket the ever-growing number of gun-friendly bidnesses out there.”

    Dude get rid of this statement, this is just giving Shannon more ammunition.

    • Jeffrey, here’s a hint:

      We’re not buying that line unless there’s some truth to it. In this case, there isn’t. Or misogyny either.

  5. I do a lot of shooting and wear a gun quite often, I go into stores and coffee shops on my way home or on my way to the range, I don’t consciously think about wearing my gun when I go into a store or shop and I have never been questioned or challenged about it. Sometimes I think people are making a tempest in a tea pot over gun ownership or the right to carry a gun. Because I don’t have a CC I do have to think about how I carry my gun and I have to be aware of the laws for open carry. Most of all I respect the right of a business owner so if they don’t want weapons in their place of business I will avoid going there, with or without a gun. Not that I am protesting the establishment but I don’t like leaving a weapon to be stolen out of my vehicle. Gun safes are a pain in the rear and like any safe or lock are for honest people not thieves

    • Keep in mind that there are states that are still ‘may issue’, where open carry and concealed carry are virtually impossible for the average citizen.

  6. I had my elderly mother at the hospital today for a check up with her cardiologist. A month or so ago, we had a shooting at Rockwood Clinic here in Spokane, where a disgruntled husband killed his wife at work, then himself. Naturally, that place is a gun free zone. Apparently, the husband didn’t obey the sign. Imagine that! Then there was another hospital shooting which hardly made the news because the Doctor blasted the shooter with his own firearm. Good guys with guns stopping bad guys isn’t mainstream media worthy as we all know.
    As a regular and almost always armed concealed carrier, with permits in Washington and Arizona, I ignored the signs today and will continue to ignore signs. Folks intent on harming others don’t care about signs and I see no reason to pay attention to a sign that says I can’t defend myself.

    • That is my position if the no beretta sign lacks the force of law. I regularly carry in Northern Virginia malls However, I will not break the law and risk having my permit revoked

    • Mark, my 80 year old mother, has carried a pistol in her purse for as long as I can remember. Regardless of the notions or wants of others. 99.9% of the time they are never aware that she has a gun in her purse. The few times she has taken it out of her purse it was not to the liking of the person she showed it to. She has never failed to convince someone of her determination to use it. Not to mention she is an extremely good shot. I had a man come to my shop looking to sell a Mac-10. I had him leave it there until I could look at it and run the numbers to make sure it wasn’t stolen then bought it from him for $150.00. When my mom saw it she said she wanted it. I asked her what she was going to do with it and she said. “Keep it in my purse.” Needless to say I didn’t let her have it but I did buy her a 9mm Taurus to replace her .38 S&W snub nose she carried for years. Come to find out the .38 S&W is a collectors item.

      • my wife’s great aunt has oen colt snub and one s&W snub .38s in mint unfired condition that she keeps for protection. I tried explaining what they are worth and she said when she dies, one of them is mine. . . . of course, every thanksgiving when I go home, I clean them for her so I can fondle the merchandise. . .

        • Have a friend like that. Every year I empty her Ruger Service six, clean it and replace the rounds with new rounds. The first time she showed it to me it was so dirty the cylinder wouldn’t rotate, and I had to pry the rounds out of the cylinder. I took it out and shot it just to make sure it worked okay and was hitting a quart bottle at 100 yards with it. I was really impressed with it and she said when she died I could have it. Not to crazy about the Service Six but I feel better knowing that she has a weapon that will actually fire if she ever does need to use it. I also took her to the range and at 7 yards she shot the ten ring out of the target.

        • Hmm, maybe scare her into retiring it from active duty by pointing out that if she ever has to use it they will probably impound it?

      • @lizzrd
        It goes without saying that unless a place that has signs finds out you are carrying, calls the cops and trespasses you, and you get caught again, there’s nothing they can do except throw a hissy fit.
        I’m not advocating trying to take it into the court house or the secure area of an airport.
        So to make a long story short, I won’t lose sleep or come whining around here because I’m smarter than to carry a gun where doing so could get me arrested. There is a difference in ignoring someones rule and ignoring the law! In this state, making a that rule has no force of law.
        You may want to brush up on state laws.

  7. “Restaurants routinely protect their patrons from second-hand smoke, so it makes sense they would go out of their way to protect them from bullets as well,” said Shannon Watts, So…she actually is okay with the owner and patrons of the restaurant to be fully armed?

  8. I have got to say; the old saying the way to a mans heart is through his stomach; combine that with an attractive lady wearing a gun and both hands holding heaping plates of food; If I was younger. I’d ask her to marry me.

  9. I’d like TTAG to keep a nationwide running talley of firearms friendly restaurants and businesses (and vice versa should time permit) that we may vote with our dollars. I don’t need 15% off my meal (that’s probably all the profit), I’ll just pay the full amount and continue patronage. But I definitely appreciate the message.

  10. i had a guy show up with a AR-15, i told him go home.

    as would have i, pistols in holsters, fine. AR’s not fine.,

    • Sooo….”Keep and Bear Arms” does not apply to rifles.

      Got it.

      The thing is a lot of these debates that continues to amazes me is how many people are not for a freedom so much as they want to be the one setting the limit.

      • I actually sympathize with long-gun carriers, living in Texas. I sympathize with open carriers. I’m still debating carrying my shotgun on some occasions myself. I fear we are seeing some handgun-only and concealed-only Fudd-types here. But for all that, long guns in crowded indoor venues with space restricted with chairs and tables and such seems at least impractical, and I couldn’t fault the owner here.

        • Ya know, I open carry a lot. I go into coffee shops and stores to get snacks or what ever. But usually I leave my long gun in the vehicle. Not because I am worried about what other may think but because it is a hassle to carry the damn thing around. It is clumsy, if you are in a restaurant there is no place to safely set it down and unlike a pistol you have less control over it. So when I see people carry a long gun into a store I tend to want to unsnap my holster and watch them closely. The unsnapping thing is actually a mental action, considering that I have a level 2 holster. Started wearing a level 2 holster when I broke up a fight and someone grabbed for my gun. When the cops got there he asked me why I didn’t use my gun. At first I though he was kidding. Then I said, “It wasn’t a gun fight.”

      • When you abuse your freedom you lose it. And when it comes to guns, there is always someone willing to push the envelope of tolerance. It is like when you are children and your parents tell you. “Pipe down it is time to go to sleep.” Then twenty minutes later you are in trouble. It is not about freedom to do as you wish but the abuse of that freedom that is in question. To be free you must also be mature in that freedom or you will surely lose it.

  11. “Restaurants routinely protect their patrons from second-hand smoke, so it makes sense they would go out of their way to protect them from bullets as well,” said Shannon Watts

    So Shannon thinks a no smoking area means people can’t carry concealed cigarettes?

    For someone who puts such grandiose claims on “common sense” she needs to comprehend that carrying a firearm is not the same thing as discharging a firearm. Unless “common sense” is the new slang term for “blatant, bald-faced idiocy”.

  12. THIS is how you do open carry. The optics on this are outstanding, and normalize gun carry, both open and concealed.

    When we get positive media coverage (the WSJ is conservative, but not particularly pro-gun), let’s keep doing more of the same. They didn’t even need to overly frame the article to make Shannon look like a loon.

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