newsobserver.com projects - Bill would allow guns in restaurants - Comments

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

murf26 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:51:08 -0400

You're right about the thugs...they don't care about having a permit...THAT'S WHY THEY ARE CALLED BAD GUYS! The law-abiding citizen is not a thug. Maybe you need to ask some of your friends/family if they carry. Actually, North Carolina is a "traditional' open carry state. Just watch those 'gun free' zones. When a bad guy sees those signs, he knows that by law, he has open pickins' to anyone walking around and that the law-abiding citizens have had to leave their guns in their cars. Just look at the shootings in the last couple of weeks...ALL IN GUN-FREE ZONES. I would bet you that the majority of shootings are in gun-free zones. And you know what? GUN-FREE ZONES TO THE LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN MEANS FREE-GUN ZONES TO THE BAD GUYS. Think about it!

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

Fahrenheit — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:23:11 -0500

"I guess we'll eat at home, instead of spending our money in the cross-fire of self-annointed vigilantes." -- Real_Americans_Think

The presence of legally-carried weapons has not produced an increase in gun violence anywhere else in North Carolina. Not at supermarkets, not on our highways, not at Starbucks, not at shopping malls, not in churches, not at gas stations. And not in restaurants that don't sell alcohol.

Thirty-eight states across the nation have liberal concealed weapons permits; many of them allow permitees to carry weapons into restaurants that serve alcohol. This has been going on for over a decade. Where are the reports of self-proclaimed vigilantes shooting it out across the Pizza Hut salad bar?

You're concerned about the presence of firearms around you. But for years, they've been there, and you haven't known. That's the "concealed" part of "concealed carry".

Anybody with a concealed carry permit already can't drink AT ALL while carrying. We're not talking about mixing alcohol and guns; we're talking about letting them carry concealed firearms that they carry just about everywhere else.

How is the presence of a concealed firearm, carried by someone who is not drinking, going to increase the danger to ANYBODY at restaurants like Applebee's or Olive Garden?

Surely, keeping it under the immediate control of a responsible citizen is much safer than forcing it to be left in the car, from which it can be stolen and later used in another crime.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

kttechwriter — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:51:16 -0500

I carry my firearm when ever I go out of town, and I put it on my belt. Sometimes it's under my shirt, sometimes not. Every now and then, some one will ask my "why do you have that gun"? Most often, I don't let people see it, so they won't feel frightened, even though I'm not the one they need to fear!

I want to get angry and emotional at such a question, but I just answer that it's my constitutional right and I'm exercising it.

I don't tell them about the four times that I've been attacked and barely escaped. Or the time I was attacked when I was out with my young son, and swore it would never happen again.

I want to tell them that you see people on drugs everywhere who'd just like to rob and kill you for a few measly bucks, but I don't.

I cannot carry it in town much, because if I drop my son off at his preschool and I have it in my car, I'm committing a felony. Even when I drive through a school zone with a gun in my car, I'm an automatic felon.

We don't have the greatest concealed carry laws in this state, but I thank God that we have them at all. The conservatives, being in the minority, had to make many concessions to the liberals, just to get that bill through, back in the early 90s.

I support this bill and I thank Sen. Brock. It's already illegal to consume alcohol and possess a firearm. I'd like to be able to carry my pistol in a restaurant just in case some nut comes in and robs the place. I might be all they have to save my life and yours.

I am responsible with my gun and it peeves me that these overly emotional liberals don't understand that legal gun owners are law abiding citizens.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

kttechwriter — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:39:06 -0500

Bravo to Senator Andrew Brock! He gets it. We should all drop a check in the mail to him for his next re-election campaign.

Why are so many people afraid of guns and law abiding citizens who carry them? One of us just might save your behind one day!

Carrying a gun is a heck of a lot easier than carrying a police officer around all day.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

bigdogops — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:36:54 -0500

Face it
1. We know criminals don't care about the signs, they carry, and shoot, where ever they want to. Legal carriers don't.
2. We know legal carriers cannot carry with any alcohol in their system, so they would not be mixing firearms and alcohol.
3. We know that if you have a legal Concealed Carry permit, you've been investigated and had records checks, which the criminals who carry anyway would never get through.
4. We know that the sheep who have shown their "I want to legislate your life 'cause I know what's good for you, better than you do" sides won't learn, until after they become victims, and then some won't even learn then. (see "You can't teach a pig to sing...") They don't care about you, nor what you have to say. Stop trying to teach a pig to sing.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

combatjumpmaster — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:43:16 -0500

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

swisspfau — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:13:59 -0500

- people should not be worried about individuals with a concealed permit, the people who get these permits including myself are the responsible ones who have respect for their weapons

- the criminals you should be worried about are already carrying their weapon in places like restaurants, you just don't know about it or are too naive, these people don't have a concealed carry permit because there is a deep background check done and they don't qualify

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

szimmerman9 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:58:40 -0500

What is this guy all about?????...Certainly, this bill would NOT encourage me to go out and buy a gun for the purpose of protecting myself in a restaurant. If he feels the need to do this...perhaps he should find a different restaurant. I have a couple of suggestions:....Margaret's Cantina at Tymberline in Chapel Hill....or Sage Cafe...just a few steps down from Margaret's.......they are the best!....and I only need to drive 2 miles.....

I see this bill as giving the thugs a pass to carry a gun into a restaurant......and do whatever....

I know nothing about this guy who is proposing this bill.....yet I have no doubt that he must be an untra-conservative R who is aligned with the NRA.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

tangoz — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:51:51 -0500

Tome I have heard of a lot of establishments like Ruby Tuesdays robbed by felons who were carrying their weapon illegally. Do you want to know that workers were murdered because they could not defend themselves. Stop being so emotional about something you know NOTHING about.You scream about honest citizens carrying a weapon legally but then scream about the long prison terms of thugs. Ypu are the problem and you are the reason the thugs are atill out on the streets robbing and killing people.

Re: Bill won't pass

Gosh — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:52:23 -0500

Grow up.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

ramius — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:35:59 -0500

oops sorry- http://www.a-human-right.com/

thanks again. Ramius

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

ramius — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:33:16 -0500

FurbishLousewart , thank you for a well reasoned argument. All I ever asked was that those reading the discussion give both sides rational thought, and you obviously have done so.

Real_Americans_Think , I'm not going to respond to you, since you make no valid points. You simply spout emotion without suporting facts. (althought I do think CCW in the House and Senate would be a hoot. Yeah, fat chance there.)

I am going to make one last statement, and I will leave everyone alone. Remember any law, from speeding tickets to murder, depends entirely upon enforcement. If speeding laws are enforced, fewer people speed. If you want to have a gun free zone, be it in a school, church, courthouse, state park, where ever, you MUST be able to enforce that law. That means metal detectors, police, the works. Law abiding people do not need to be searched, criminals do. And look inside any prison- the ultimate gun free zone, with cavity searches, no privacy, etc. and you will find weapons everywhere, and attacks common. Individuals- that means YOU- are responsible for your own safety. The police have no obligation to protect you as an individual. If you feel safe going someplace unarmed (and I for one would NEVER go into any place where I did not feel safe- duh.) then great, that's your choice. But don't deny me the use of my choice of eating where I like simply because I chose to be prepared for a most unlikely emergency.

Never saw Pulp Fiction, can't stand Travolta. Sorry. :)

If anyone cares to overcome fear of firearms, check out www.a-human-right.org

Thank you for your time, Best wishes. Ramius

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

Real_Americans_Think — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:12:31 -0500

When the legislature is willing to allow concealed weapons in the senate and house chambers, then let them blather on about concealed weapons in restaurants and parks. This is total utter nonsense. What is the supposed problem that this would solve, other than hypothetical hysterical paranoid delusions from the far right? Why doesn't the right focus on fixing the economy, rather than increasing the firepower present in a restaurant. I guess we'll eat at home, instead of spending our money in the cross-fire of self-annointed vigilantes.

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:11:19 -0500

This is the least reassuring comment I've ever read on a blog item.

— RTB

Re: Bill would allow guns in restaurants

jwc123 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:59:04 -0500

Are you kidding me? North Carolina will be the laughing stock of the nation for introducing legislation like this. Get this clown out of office!

Bill would allow guns in restaurants

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:09:59 -0500

A bill would allow concealed weapons in restaurants.

Sen. Andrew Brock filed a bill last week that would allow North Carolinians with concealed weapons permits to take their guns into restaurants.

A companion bill was filed this week in the House.

Under state law, it is a Class I misdemeanor to take "any gun, rifle or pistol" into any establishment that serves alcohol, unless you are the proprietor, police officer or on-duty military.

Brock said that criminals are more likely to target restaurants for robberies knowing that fewer patrons may be carrying a gun. He cited shootings in malls and at Virginia Tech.

"The reasons they have gunmen go into these areas is because they know the people there are defenseless," he said. "If they knew that people were armed or had a possibility of being armed, they wouldn't go in there."

A separate House bill would also allow concealed weapons in state parks.

Brock, who plans to undergo training for a concealed weapons permit soon, said he would support that measure as well.