Vin Suprynowicz

In the “Good News” department, the Washington Times reported in September “More than 57,000 gun-friendly bars, eateries crop up across America.”

Back in April, the owners of TBonz Steakhouse in Augusta, Georgia, “decided to be proactive when Republican Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law one of the most comprehensive pro-gun bills in the country,” the newspaper reports. The new law allows firearms into the state’s bars and restaurants unless otherwise posted.

The steakhouse hung up a “No Guns” sign on its front door.

Customers stayed away in droves.

The “customer backlash was so harsh and quick that the steakhouse immediately took down the sign and then posted a mea culpa on its Facebook page,” the Times reports. “The sign that was put up regarding firearms has been removed,” TBonz said in its Facebook posting in May, falling all over itself to repair the self-inflicted injury. “It was our intention to get the attention of IRRESPONSIBLE gun owners. But then we realized that irresponsible gun owners do not pay attention to signs.”

Carrying rights have now been restored in every state, the Times reports, with only three — Maine, North Dakota and Illinois — still banning guns in restaurants or bars that derive more than half their profits from alcohol. While each state’s law is written differently, most give restaurant and bar owners the right to “post” their establishment — to tack a sign on the door either prohibiting or allowing firearms. (Almost like they had private property rights -– imagine that.)

After the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, many national chains, including Starbucks, Sonic and Chipotle, claim to have banned weapons on their premises. (The ban is only for some of us, of course — watch to see if police officers disarm before entering, or if any employee asks them to.)

But “Many smaller restaurants and bars are embracing guns,” the Times reports, telling patrons to come in and eat armed for a variety of reasons, “including not angering their own customer base, to attract Second Amendment rights activists and to not leave themselves vulnerable to crimes by blatantly stating everyone in the joint is unarmed.”

The Cajun Experience in Leesburg, Virginia, has introduced Second Amendment Wednesdays, when patrons are encouraged to carry, whether open or concealed.

“It’s our constitutional right to bear arms,” said Bryan Crosswhite, owner of the Cajun Experience. “We definitely see more traffic since we started this. It’s been an overwhelming response.”

In addition to owning the gun-friendly eatery, Mr. Crosswhite has started a Web site that lists other pro-Second Amendment companies nationally, called www.2amendment.org. He started the venture last winter and already has 57,000 businesses signed on.

Gunburger.com is another registry where gun rights activists keep a log of both gun-friendly shops and anti-Second Amendment store in Arizona and Kansas. They meet monthly to update their list, converse, and eat and drink while bearing arms in a firearm-friendly establishment.

Sharma Floyd, owner of Shiloh Brew & Chew in Maryville, Tennessee, says business has boomed since she put a sign in the window welcoming firearm owners with permits. All Around Pizzas & Deli in Virginia Beach gives discounts to patrons who show up armed.

And at Chicken Express in Bossier City, Louisiana, patrons received a free combo meal if they showed up with a concealed carry license, one Saturday in April. Owner Randal Neel reports it was the busiest Saturday the store ever had.

Stephanie Evans, owner of Wings on the Run in Greenville, South Carolina, told the Times she was grateful she keeps a firearm at her place of business. Last January, about 10 minutes before closing, an armed masked man barged in the restaurant’s door, demanding she open the cash register. A co-worker ran to the back, got out the store’s firearm, shot twice, and had the bad guy on the run.

“Nothing was stolen. I’m so glad we had that firearm,” Mrs. Evans said. “I’m not sure what would’ve transpired had we not.”

On the other hand, The Pit Authentic Barbecue in Durham, N.C., decided to take a different approach when North Carolina made it legal to carry concealed guns in bars last year. Managers swiftly hung a “No Weapons, No Concealed Firearms” sign in the window, the Times reports.

The barbecue restaurant was robbed at gunpoint in May. Two employees were injured. One ended up in the hospital.

The restaurant still doesn’t permit concealed carry. Presumably they’re waiting till someone is killed.

WE’RE NOT DEFENSELESS ENOUGH

You could not make some of this stuff up.

U.S. News and World Report, among others, reports Silicon Valley Congressman Mike Honda, the former schoolteacher and global warming zealot who thinks the minimum wage should be -– well, no one can actually figure out how much higher he thinks the minimum wage should be — wants to bar everyday Americans from owning body armor “the ballistic resistance of which meets or exceeds the ballistic performance of Type III armor,” as determined by the National Institute of Justice.

Cops need an edge over criminals and rampaging madmen, who can “wreck havoc with impunity” while wearing military grade stuff, Honda told the magazine.

(Needless to say, agents of any federal or state or local government agency -– read “cops,” as well as USDA chicken inspectors -– would be exempt under Honda’s proposal.)

“We don’t need to have individuals owning these things and going around with a higher degree of protection against law enforcement,” Honda says.

Violators of the proposed new law –- which includes “illegal transfers,” of course — would face up to 10 years in the federal pen. And the bill includes “shields.” Like a metal plate on your door?

Even current bullet-resistant backpacks for schoolchildren are rated Type III and would be banned.

Technically, the ban would not apply to body armor already in private hands, though Honda says law enforcement might want to encourage people to turn those in, anyhow. “If there are records of sales, (law enforcement) could track those down,” he says.

You know what else gives criminals an unfair advantage, congressman? Locks. If we don’t ban locks entirely, then at least every time a locksmith installs a new lock on a door or gate, he should make a duplicate key, label it, and hand it over to the police, don’t you think? And what about more metal detectors? I think we should have portable metal detectors that police can set up at randomly selected street-corners, don’t you? If people turn and walk the other way, shoot ’em. If you’re not a criminal, what have you got to hide?

On the bright side, this piece of idiocy is going nowhere in the Republican-led House of Representatives. In fact, it appears Honda, who’s losing ground to a less doctrinaire Democratic challenger, may just be casting around for some symbolic measure to shore up his support among old-line, far-Left statists.

In late August, the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee endorsed challenger Ro Khanna in his bid to unseat Honda, now 73.
Khanna is “left-of-center on social issues, right-of-center on tech and business issues,” explains Jim Reed, the chamber’s vice president of public policy.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

With the National Guard stationed in Ferguson, Missouri as the riots and protests there continued over the shooting death by police of yet another unarmed black teen-ager, Barack Obama held an August press conference in which he warned that citizens carrying guns undermine justice.

“While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving in to that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos,” Obama told a news conference. “It undermines, rather than advancing, justice.”

As others have pointed out, that’s a strange list. Imagine if Mr. Obama had said we shouldn’t “rape, steal, or attend weekly worship services.” Wouldn’t the combination of those three activities in one list have people scratching their heads?

Looting and attacking police are crimes, as are rape and theft. But “carrying guns” is not only NOT a crime -– any more than “attending weekly religious services” -– it’s a right guaranteed by the Constitution, a document Obama voluntary swore to protect and uphold.

There are no Missouri state permit requirements for the purchase of a rifle, shotgun or handgun, points out Melissa Melston of The Daily Sheeple. Live feeds from Ferguson showed shop owners protecting their stores by standing guard with legal guns. How does that “undermine justice”?

Have you ever heard your local sheriff or police chief announce “In order to advance justice, I’m going to take away the guns of most of the police officers currently patrolling our streets”? No?

It’s almost as though our local chiefs of law enforcement think it actually enhances justice and law and order to have more people out on the streets “carrying guns,” doesn’t it?

I never thought I’d find myself saying I was disappointed in Barack Obama, given my low expectations for the zero-achievement senator.

But given a chance to congratulate black folk who find their unarmed children being shot by our overly militarized police in devastating numbers, for the simple and legal act of going armed to send a message that they’re going to draw the line somewhere, Obama predictably goes against the common folk, and sides with the overly militarized police state.

What a surprise.

Vin Suprynowicz is the author of Send in the Waco Killers, The Ballad of Carl Drega, and the novel The Black Arrow. His next novel, The Testament of James, is due later this fall.