Will saying no to guns mean lost business for Ohio restaurants?

Posted by ianmara on Jan 24, 2012 in Bar Management | 2 comments

It is looking like bar and restaurant owners in Ohio are having to make a decision between allowing guns in their business and losing a few paying customers.

Last summer the state passed a piece of gun legislation the Cleveland Plain Dealer called “one of broadest in the country.” Senate Bill 17 made carrying firearms into any so-called “Class D” establishment legal. The Class D list includes includes bars, restaurants, nightclubs and shopping malls.

The law allows those with conceal carry licenses to possess firearms but not to consume alcoholic beverages or be drunk. Violation of the provision is a felony and results in revocation of the conceal carry license.

It also is illegal to carry a firearm into any establishment that posts a sign saying it does not want guns on its premises. Which is where this story begins.

Reaction to the bill was mixed, with both the state’s law enforcement community and restaurant associations opposed to its passage. Initially several hundred businesses posted the ‘no guns’ signs.

A recent article by the Columbus Dispatch updated the number of restaurants and bars that do not want firearms in their establishments. According to advocacy group Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC), 300 restaurants and bars in the Columbus area alone have posted the signs.

“We just want people feeling comfortable bringing their families here,” said a Columbus-area GM quoted in the story. “A restaurant with alcohol in it is just not the place for guns.”

The OFCC has put together a database of businesses which have posted the signs. It says the list is not a boycott, but rather to help its conceal carry members know precisely where possession of a firearm is illegal.

With that said, on its website the OFCC sells “No Guns = No Money” cards for members to hand out. And a few people associated with OFCC were quoted in the Dispatch story as saying they may not patronize a business that does not allow conceal carry weapons.

“It really irritated me, and now I’m eating at (a restaurant) across the street. I feel like they have said they personally don’t want my business,” said a local gun owner.

It would seem unlikely that the amount of business lost to those who feel passionately enough about the issue to boycott would do much damage to a bottom line. But it is a shame that owners and GMs are being put in the position of weighing something which makes them uncomfortable and losing customers.

What do you think?