What is the world coming to when bar employees are the sense of reason? Barkeeps and waitresses are coming out against a law getting ready to be enacted that will allow concealed weapons to be carried into bars among other places.
Gov. John Kasich (Ohio) signed a bill which allows residents with concealed-carry permits to carry their weapon into approximately 17,000 businesses throughout the state that hold Class D liquor licenses including bars, restaurants, malls and sports venues.
Packing Heat Then You Cannot Drink!
It may sound like a terrible idea, but wait – there is a caveat – if you are packing heat – you cannot drink. Now the law seems perfect. Because we all know gun owners and people who frequent bars and sports venues would never try to break the law, right?
Enforcement of the no-drinking condition is not specifically addressed by the new law, however, and it’s a condition that some bar patrons and employees throughout Butler County say will be ignored.
The idea of bringing a gun into a bar, however legal, is definitely a bad idea, Richards said, a sentiment also shared by Jill Morrissey, a bartender at Gina’s Italian Food and Spirits in Hamilton.
The idea is not only a bad idea, Morrissey said, but a frightening one.
“It scares the crap out of me because what if there is a bar fight?” Morrissey said. “It’s going to end badly.”
Not in Ohio – You’re Not Safe Either
Lawmakers in Ohio defend their new law by saying they are just doing what many other states already have done. That is the truth as 40 states currently have laws on the books allowing concealed weapons in establishments where alcohol is consumed.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous and it confuses me,” said Elizabeth Allen, bar manager at Buck’s Sports Bar and Grille in Middletown. “They don’t allow smoking in bars for safety but they will allow guns? I would be worried about someone who was drinking taking someone else’s gun.”
The new law only brings new worries for employees who already deal with unruly customers and shootouts in the neighborhood surrounding the bar, Allen said.
“Liquor and firearms do not go hand in hand,” Allen said. “Who’s to say a drunk doesn’t get mad and takes it (a firearm) away from somebody else, jerks it out and shoots them?”
Guns in bars—what do you think? Maybe these people need to take an alcohol awareness class to learn about how to handle their alcohol along with their weapons.