Guns and Booze, Oh My!

The end of September marks the start of a new statewide law that allows concealed carry permit holders to take their guns into bars (and restaurants that serve alcohol). Some bar owners are understandably nervous about it.

The owner of the ironically named “Shooters Bar and Grill” says he’s keeping the signs prohibiting weapons up. Whether they can be enforced or not remains to be seen. According to news reports the owner said, “This doesn't make me happy at all. Any time you have people drinking, you never know how their personality is going to change… My personal opinion is that the police are the only ones who should be carrying guns."

The previous version of the law prohibited concealed carry in locations where alcohol was served or sold.

Other business owners aren’t worried. They point out that having responsible citizens on their premises will make things safer, not less so. They point out that to get a permit, someone has to take classes and pass a background check. The theory is that these folks will actually balance those that carry weapons illegally into bars already.

The Ohio Restaurant Association fell on the “anti” side and encourages its members to post signs prohibiting guns. Simply put, their position is, “Guns and Booze don’t mix.”

The truth of the matter probably lies somewhere in between these extremes. Concealed carry holders are, for the most part, responsible citizens. And gun violence occurs for other reasons than just having one handy. It doesn’t seem to be a great problem now for someone to go out to their truck, get a gun, and return to perpetrate a shooting. Other states that have allowed this did not see any uptick in alcohol related gun crimes involving permit holders.