House approves allowing guns in bars

by Associated Press (June 30th, 2009 @ 4:12pm)

Policy >>

Comments:29

PHOENIX - The Arizona House has approved a bill to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry a gun into a business that serves alcohol.

The measure has pitted powerful groups representing gun and bar owners against each other.

It would require bar and restaurant owners who want to ban weapons to post a sign next to their liquor license. Drinking while carrying a weapon would be illegal.

Opponents have said that mixing guns and alcohol could cause violence, but supporters argue that people should be able to protect themselves at businesses that serve alcohol.

The House approved the measure 40-19. It now goes back to the Senate, which has already approved a more-restrictive version that would have required a bar to serve food in order to allow guns.

Last 5 Comments

• 0 Reply Abuse Vote

  CCW Holders and Restaurants

  thegreek

  I'm sending this a second because something corrupted my previous message: To Reynaldo V: Well it's obvious from your response to my comments that it comes from ignorance and listening to the liberal media but not from any real research. Again, AZ is one of the LAST CCW states to amend the law to carry conceal weapons in restaurants and the bill does not mention bars. There are 41 states with CCW laws and the rest have allowed carrying in restaurants for years. If this was a problem then this would have been repealed in the other states by now. You need to do some more reading on this. My logic and the ones who have researched this are NOT flawed. As for policemen, they're not as well trained as you think they are with their firearms. SWAT teams definitely but many street cops just get by with qualifications and do not always follow up with regular practicing. If you take classes and practice once a week, you can end up being a better shooter than many. How many incidents have you read or seen on T.V. where dozens of shots have been fired and the suspect was struck once or twice or possibly not at all? When you have seconds to save your life and the police are several minutes away, what do you think is going to be the outcome? The police tend to be historians, they're just there to collect the information. Due to this economy police departments are cutting back. Chandler Police Dept. is cutting back their force by 8%. Plus for every percent unemployment goes up, crime goes up about the same. What do you think this going to do to their response time? Yes, they do the best they can but it's not always enough unfortunately. It's also not only about protecting yourself in a restaurant but protecting yourself going to and from your vehicle. How many times have people been attacked in a parking lot? Many! The firearm won't do you any good if it's lying in your car. Also read up on the D.C. court decision (Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1, 1981). The court ruled that: "Police are under no legal obligation to provide protection for any individual. Courts have ruled the police have an obligation only to society as a whole". Here's a link that gives a brief history on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia. Also you have no idea how often firearms are used every day in self defense saving many innocent citizens. Here's another link on that as well: http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/blogger.html. If this link doesn't open your eyes then your just choosing to keep your head in the sand.

  25230
• 0 Reply Abuse Vote

  CCW Holders and Restaurants

  thegreek

  Well it's obvious from your response to my comments that it comes from ignorance and listening to the liberal media but not from any real reserach. Again, AZ is one of the LAST CCW states to amend the law to carry conceal weapons in restaurants and the bill does not mention bars. There are 41 states with CCW laws and the rest have allowed carrying in restaurants for years. If this was a problem then this would have been repealled in the other states by now. You need to do some more reading on this. My logic and the ones who have researched this are NOT flawed. As for policemen, they're not as well trained as you think they are with their firearms. SWAT teams definitely but many street cops just get by with qualifications and do not always follow up with regular practicing. If you take classes and practice once a week, you can end up being a better shooting than many. How many incidents have you read or seen on T.V. where dozens of shots Well it's obvious from your response to my comments that it comes from ignorance and listening to the liberal media but not from any real research. Again, AZ is one of the LAST CCW states to amend the law to carry conceal weapons in restaurants and the bill does not mention bars. There are 41 states with CCW laws and the rest have allowed carrying in restaurants for years. If this was a problem then this would have been repealed in the other states by now. You need to do some more reading on this. My logic and the ones who have researched this are NOT flawed. As for policemen, they're not as well trained as you think they are with their firearms. SWAT teams definitely but many street cops just get by with qualifications and do not always follow up with regular practicing. If you take classes and practice once a week, you can end up being a better shooting than many. How many incidents have you read or seen on T.V. where dozens of shots have been fired and the suspect was struck once or twice or possibly not at all? When you have seconds to save your life and the police are several minutes away, what do you think is going to be the outcome? The police tend to be historians, they're just there to collect the information. Due to this economy police departments are cutting back. Chandler Police Dept. is cutting back their force by 8%. Plus for every percent unemployment goes up, crime goes up about the same. What do you think this going to do to their response time? Yes they do the best they can but it's not always enough unfortunately. It's also not only about protecting yourself in a restaurant but protecting yourself going to and from your vehicle. How many times have people been attacked in a parking lot? Many! The firearm won't do you any good if it's lying in your car. Also read up on the D.C. court decision (Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1, 1981). The court ruled that: "Police are under no legal obligation to provide protection for any individual. Courts have ruled the police have an obligation only to society as a whole". Here's a link that gives a brief history on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia Also you have no idea how often firearms are used every day in self defense saving many innocent citizens. Here's another link on that as well: http://www.claytoncramer.com/gundefenseblog/blogger.html If this link doesn't open your eyes then your just choosing to keep your head in the sand.

  25229
• 0 Reply Abuse Vote

  Guns/Bars

  Markb

  I think there is a great area for people and they're not considering all the facts. I love the idea of being able to carry my gun everywhere where allowed. I don't think someone at Salty Senorita's is probably the main attraction for this bill. It's for legal carriers of a weapon like myself to be able to go about there day as they normally do and if I want to stop at Red Robin for a burger with my son, I can do so. Red Robin serves alcohol so I was always leaving my gun in the car. If this bill was active a few years ago my wife would have had her gun on her when she was leaving an establishment just like that where they served alcohol but more of a restaurant she would have been able to stop a violent robbery. Her gun was in her car and she was approached and knew something was going to happen and tried to get in her car when two men punched her repeatedly. I like the way Texas law is where if the place that is serving alcohol has its revenue come from 51% or more from alcohol, there is no guns allowed. Think of some of the reasons on your own and don't always follow what the media reports.

  24717
• 0 Reply Abuse Vote

  I'd spend your time getting ready!

  peanuts

  Get some long term food/water and supplies in order..

  24672
• 0 Reply Abuse Vote

  Back When

  PCUB

  When I was 21, we used to carry our firearms everywhere we went. Yes, Arizona was different then, most of the people from back East and California thought Arizona was a useless desert, and the natives just went about their lives with little or no restrictions. At Buena High School in 1984 you could see trucks with hunting rifles parked in the school parking lot, never a second thought came to anyones mind about it. We used to enter the bars and the bartender would ask us if we had weapons, we would pull them out and he would take them and give us a ticket number. At the end of the night we gave him the ticket number and he gave our guns back. I remember even back then we hardly ever had a problem with gun violence. It was not until outsiders started to swarm this State that it got all screwed up and crazy. It was funny how just the mere presence of a firearm hanging on someones belt in a circle K or a grocery store made everyone think twice about doing something stupid.

  24641
• Read More Comments