A Gun at the Wayside Inn

The Wayside Inn is a sports bar in Northern Wisconsin.  It has been around as long as I can remember, and is in the neighborhood where I grew up, on Highway 63 a few miles North of Hayward.   I had dinner there recently with relatives.   They have a traditional fish fry on Friday (it was very good).  While there, I noticed a new semi-automatic shotgun on the wall.   I have often seen wall hangers elsewhere, but there are nearly always non-functioning items of art rather than modern firearms.   I went back to determine what the state of the art Browning was all about.

The Browning is a lovely bit of the gun makers art, but it was not there for mere decoration.   It was there to celebrate the local gun culture.   The Wayside holds a raffle once a year where they raffle off a firearm.   They sell 200 tickets at $10 each.   I was told that they only had 10 tickets left.

The Hayward Hawks are a local baseball team.  

This is not the only gun raffle that the Wayside Inn participates in.   They also sell about a hundred tickets a year for this raffle:

This raffle lists 50 guns that are being raffled off to benefits wildlife conservation efforts by purchasing land and stocking fish and other wildlife.

The bartender asked that I include a picture of an 82nd Airborne banner on the ceiling.   He said that the Wayside was pro-military.

A patron, Eric, volunteered that he had a concealed carry permit, but was not carrying.    He indicated that he was imbibing alcohol, by lifting his beer glass, and saying, "This is why I am not carrying".    In Wisconsin, it is illegal to carry in a bar if you are drinking alcohol.   Eric's attitude is typical of those with concealed carry permits.   They are extremely law abiding, more so than police officers. 

The Wayside Inn is just one of the interconnected nodes of the gun culture.   In Northern Wisconsin there are a lot of guns, and the crime rate is very low.  I believe that it is not entirely because of the guns, but because of the culture that widespread legal gun ownership thrives in.  

It is a culture of individual responsibility, independence, foresight, and consideration of others.   These are the values that gun ownership fosters.  A Thomas Jefferson quote confirms that he shared my view:

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.

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