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Fully Loaded
Would you feel comfortable walking into a restaurant where most of the staff were armed? That’s what you’ll find at Shooter’s Grill in Rifle (I’m not kidding), Colorado.
I appreciated this ABC video because I might not agree with those who had concerns about open carry, but I thought the video presented both sides of the argument for guns. All of the staff who do carry (most of them) are fully trained and Rifle, CO has a different culture than many towns in the US.
The video is just over seven minutes. Do you think, in spite of the video being produced by mainstream ABC television, it’s fair and balanced? What would you add, subtract or modify it to meet your views on guns?
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Published in Guns
Sexy women packing.
The can charge extra, no?
Not just yes, but Hell yes! I have stopped entering anyplace I don’t have to that has a no guns sign. That’s not because I’m carrying, but because I don’t want to be in a shooting gallery where only a bad guy will be carrying.
I think it could have used a perspective that maybe if the teachers at Columbine and some of the theater goers in Aurora had been packing, maybe not as many people would have died.
Well, they say the tips are about the same. Go figure!
I agree, @arahant, although I doubt ABC would go that far. But you’re right. We leave people so vulnerable in these times, when it simply isn’t necessary. In fact, it’s foolish.
I don’t think that it gets much fairer than this in terms of network coverage. I’m not sure they realized the implication of the “buns and guns” intro, but maybe that’s just my own thought processes.
Look, the town sheriff had it right–this is a business plan and the plan happens to coincide with the owners’ beliefs. You gotta have a gimmick.
That was my reaction to his comment, too, @hoyacon. And he came across as a regular guy, not some gunslinger. And it is a gimmick, too, because they’ll have people who respect open carry coming from all over the country. Good for them!
Not exactly convinced it’s a good idea, just yet… perhaps some cleavage would persuade Me.
So . . . Hooters and Shooters?[I hereby disavow this post, whoever made it.]
I understand that theater was deliberately picked because it had a “No Gun” sign. The shooter knew there would be no blow back.
I find the comment of the fellow who worried about the restaurant “glorifying guns” a bit ironic. (But I also think anyone who has lost a loved one to gun violence is entitled to be negative towards guns — misplaced though it be (IMO).) People who want to limit law-abiding citizen access to effective self-protection are glorifying government.
Don’t people realize that “normalizing” guns is normalizing self-defense? When did that become a bad thing?!
Great points, @rodin. And the guy who lost a son was a cop, too. I highlighted what I thought was your best point. So many misguided people who live in fear, period.
The assumption on the part of those with concerns is that this will lead to irresponsible cowboys and cowgirls packing, and will eventually result in some sort of tragedy, with unqualified dummies spraying an area with bullets. I realize that this is a picture likely to draw the ire of gun rights advocates, but, even as a Second Amendment supporter, I admit to having concerns along these lines. My observations of the culture lead me to think that, as something moves mainstream, it’s adopted by a lower common denominator of person following a trend. All of the points made about the knowledge and responsibility of today’s gun owners are well taken, but that’s today.
I’ve been sitting here, thinking about this part of your comment, @hoyacon. You may have a point. Still, not every person is attracted to every trend. Second, I’m not sure that the “lower common denominator” would be interested; I’m not sure if that’s actually true. The fact is, people who want to do violence will do so. The UK has people attacking others with knives. So I’m not convinced that this is an issue, but I’d like to hear more if you wish, or hear more from others. Thanks for posing the question.
Believe it or not, I’ve been to Rifle (way back in 2003). I would have no qualms whatsoever walking into a restaurant where the staff or patrons are visibly armed, be it in Rifle or here in Aiken . . .
Hmm. Maybe my wanna-be top-chef daughter could be a franchisee….
Top chef and top gun would make a great combo . . .
I understand the fear. But I think a true gun culture is where the power and lethality of the gun is respected and people are familiar with weapons rather than them being these exotic things with self-agency. It is in that culture that peer pressure can effectively ensure safety. Vehicles can and do kill more people than guns in the USA (particularly when you exclude gun facilitated suicides) and yet people are trained to control their vehicles and operate at very high rates of speed in the presence of a substantial number of other vehicles without incident.
I would love to see gun safety as a mandatory high school class. If we can teach mandatory sex ed, we can teach mandatory firearms ed.
I know, I know, will never hap’n Cap’n . . .
My concern isn’t with the norm in the gun culture. My concern is that, if and when carrying becomes trendy, those outside of responsible gun culture who are not motivated enough to learn safety will glom onto carrying a weapon for its cool factor. Using the vehicle analogy, there are many legitimate car enthusiasts who are responsible. There are also many “boy racers” mesmerized by the Fast and Furious culture who wreak havoc on the roads and among themselves.
Here in New York state, not only is marksmanship not being made mandatory, a Manhattan lawmaker is trying to make it illegal for a school district to offer it. Granted, the proposal has no co-sponsors, and lawmakers from the rural parts of the state are pointing out what a stupid idea it is. (I am currently reading a collection of speeches by the late US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and in several of them he references his participation in marksmanship competitions while in high school and carrying his rifle to school on the subway in New York City.)
You obviously haven’t seen Boston drivers! And there’s FL too!
Nah. Get rid of both of them. We’re spending way too much time on subjects that don’t belong in schools at all.
You’re sort of making my point, @hoyacon. They’re everywhere in every part of society. I’d venture to say the boy racers are the same fools as untrained people with guns on their belts. . .
Culturally, cars are “ahead” of guns in this respect. I’m not saying we’ll arrive at the same place, but I do believe that it’s worth considering whether we could. It would be rather consistent with how things work today.
My parents raised me to be very fearful of guns. Hence, I still find it weird to be around my open-carrying son. He became very familiar with firearms during ROTC in college. I keep thinking of all the horrible “what-if’s” my parents drilled into me, particularly the “what happens if a bad guy grabs the gun.”
I can relate to the concerns of the police sergeant about differentiating between the good guy and the bad guy. Many years ago a lover’s triangle ended up in a murder and suicide on the front lawn of a house 3 doors down from my house. In the midst of the fracas, a neighbor came out with his rifle, which he ended up not firing, as by then the assailant had committed suicide. But, I wondered how would he tell who needed the rifle pointed at them?
On the “normalization” point, I think normalizing open carry has the potential to reduce problems.
When the US Supreme Court was considering the District of Columbia’s virtual ban on private ownership of firearms, some supporters of the ban noted that the court had, in the early 19th century, approved a ban on the concealed carrying of a firearm. But, at the time, open carry was the norm. Honest people carried their firearms in the open. Only those up to no good concealed their firearms. So, maybe redeveloping a culture of open carry normalization will reduce the temptation of some to do something stupid.
There will always be those who abuse what others enjoy. I would no more give up my car due to street racers as I would give up my guns due to school shooters.
I’m not asking for that. Hope you know. The question is whether, as a cultural phenomenon becomes more prevalent, it begins to attract the irresponsible–and whether this could happen with guns. I’d certainly grant that the answer presently is “Not so far.”
No! Surely he tried to murder several people on the subway, or hijack one of the trains . . .
I think the correct procedure would be to announce yourself with menace. Whoever is holding the gun should not fire or threaten in any way. Of course that would not deter the murder-suicide; the rifle would only be effective if the potential victim acquired the gun and then lowered and submitted per instructions.