ID: Moscow Restaurant Encourages Open Carry of Guns

In Moscow, Idaho, a restaurant offers a discount to people who openly carry firearms.

In the vast majority of states, openly carried firearms are legal.   The right to open carry has been used in a number of states to push for the passage of "shall issue" laws to allow people to legally carry firearms concealed.  Virginia, Ohio, and Wisconsin are states that readily come to mind.  Texans are currently  using the legal open carry of rifles, guaranteed in their State Constitution, to push for the legal open carry of handguns.  Arizonans used the right to open carry to remove illegal regulation.  Guam had open carry before they passed a "shall issue" law this year.  The strategy  has generally worked.

41 states and a territory have "shall issue" statutes, eight states have "may issue" laws, which allow local authorities to deny carry permits without clearly stated reasons; 1 state, Vermont, does not require a permit to carry a gun and does not issue one.  Four of the "shall issue" states do not require permits, but issue them for reasons of reciprocity and special circumstances.   There are currently 45 states in which the open carry of modern, holstered pistols is generally legal, as it has been in most of nation for most of its history.  The one state that restricted open carry further, California,  has become the location of a federal court decision that states that if you restrict open carry, then you must, at minimum, have a "shall issue" concealed carry policy.  California is a weird outlier, as it is one of only six states that have no state constitutional protection for the right to keep and bear arms.

Restoration of the right to carry firearms has been met with fierce opposition in the old media.   The argument has always been that there will be "blood in the streets" and a return to "the wild, wild, west".  It never happens.  The west referred to was mostly a fiction created by the media starting with dime novels, then moving to the movie theater and then television.  The wild west was more peaceful than modern urban centers, which have become the modern frontier.

Private establishments have always had the right to bar customers from carrying arms on their property, a right that was usurped by the government in many states.  When the general right to bear arms is restored, many store owners are exhorted by the media to ban the carry of arms on their premises.  In some locations, the local governments applied some persuasion to this end, even buying "no guns" signs to "give" to store owners to "assist" them in making the decision.   After the stores start losing customers, and are told why, the signs come down. 

Some establishments have discovered what has long been established by various studies: gun owners tend to be better educated and more prosperous than the general public.   Crime rates tend to drop with an increase in citizens carrying legal guns.   Some of these establishments have put these facts together and come to the obvious conclusion:  It is a good idea to attract gun carriers as customers.  The value is clear.  Not only does the store or restaurant gain business, it gains a considerable increase in security for almost no cost.   Everyone understands why police bars, donut shops, and gun shops are seldom the targets of armed robberies: criminals do not wish to be shot.

Here is the notice From cdssmokepit.com, located in Moscow:  

Do you offer an open carry discount?
Yes.  Since opening in 2010 we have offered a 10% discount if you open carry a handgun.  Before we opened up, we knew we wanted to offer this as an incentive to folks who carry guns.  We wanted to offer this friendly invitation to fellow members of the firearms community since not all businesses are always ‘carry friendly’.  While it may turn some heads and has sparked some interesting conversations, it has also brought CD’s a variety of very cool, very friendly regular customers. Don’t worry – all of our gun-toting fans display responsibility and safety! If you’re ever in & would like to know more about this policy or firearms related information in general, feel free to ask!

CD's Smoke Pit has hit on a business model that appears to be working well.  Other establishments have welcomed legal firearms owners, CD's goes further by working to attract them.   I suspect that we will see more of this strategy in the future.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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