“One shot, one bourbon, one beer. That’s a gun shot, by the way,” money.cnn.com reports in its own dismissively incredulous sort of way. “Oklahoma City entrepreneurs are opening a gun range next month [Wilshire Gun] where both alcohol and full automatic machine guns will be on tap.” On tap. Geddit? And thanks for the link to the SHOT Show Media Day machine gun porn. “Co-owner Jane Moran, a certified financial planner and shooting enthusiast, said that ‘guns are the new golf’ in the world of corporate events. She wants to create a clubhouse environment where business people can schmooze. The shooting and the drinking will be kept safely separated, Moran said. The range will scan customer driver’s licenses so that after they leave the range for a drink they can’t get back in.” So . . . what’s the problem? Well . . .
Nothing! And despite the tongue-in-cheek intro, the CNN report is fair-minded on that point.
There’s a similar range called the Governors Gun Club located in Powder Springs near Atlanta. Members pay a $700 sign-up fee and $800 annually to use the Freedom Lounge, which features a billiard table, a poker table, a humidor and a bar. They also get a gun locker and a cigar locker, as well as a free machine gun rental on their birthday.
There are even retail establishments that sell both guns and hard liquor under the same roof, although they’re rare. Ken’s Sporting Goods & Liquor Store in Crescent, Ore., has a sculpture of a bear with a salmon and a sign that says “Guns Ammo Liquor Beer Wine.”
Ken’s has been selling liquor and guns for at least 36 years, according to Chuck Defoe, who sternly condemns drinking and shooting at the same time.“I get some people coming in here and they say, ‘Oh, you’re pushing drinking and shooting,'” said Defoe. “I don’t drink and shoot guns. I don’t advocate anybody having a drink and shooting guns. If anybody appears to be on drugs – there’s a lot of that around – or drinking, we will not sell.”
Store clerk Phil Lindquist said he’s only had a customer come in once to buy a gun and liquor at the same time.
I wonder if the customer was from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (and Really Big Fires).