-=> Quoting T Owen to Steve Gunhouse on 13 Jul 96  06:44 <=-
 Re: Kicked out of Denny's 
 TO> That all seems pretty reasonable; all except the policy being there
 TO> in the first place. If I ran a business that was open to the public,
 TO> that would walk in off the street, I would feel safer to have armed
 TO> customers. If a perp came in and tried to rob me, there would be less
 TO> chance of him/her succeeding in robbing, or injuring myself or others.
 TO> The fact that someone would even post such a sign is disturbing, and 
 TO> unenforceable, unless there are metal detectors at the doors. It all
 TO> seems very silly to me. Take care.
It's simple really. A store certainly shouldn't mind people whom they 
know that are armed - there is a certain presumed trust with people you
know. There is not as much trust of strangers - are they potential 
customers exercising their right, or are they potential robbers? For 
many, the presumption seems to be the latter. I'd attribute that to 
ignorance - if you can't carry openly (which you can't in Texas), you 
don't know how much more common the former is. You never see honest 
people carrying concealed because it is concealed, you only see the 
criminal who wanders in with a concealed gun then whips it out and robs 
you. (And of course, as criminals try to pick times when the place is 
fairly empty, you don't know that the guy they waited until he'd left 
would have saved you.)
Concealed carry is good for the person who has it, but it does nothing 
for PR.
For instance, yesterday I mentioned to a shopkeeper I know that I had a 
license. He presumed I'd have left my gun in the car, but I told him "No, 
I have it on me." At first he was a little surprised, but as soon as he 
thought about it it made perfect sense. So at least he now trusts me. But 
I certainly wouldn't go up to a shopkeeper I didn't know and tell him, so 
he'll never know. (Of course, this was a small, family-owned business. 
Who ever honestly gets close to the checkout people in a big grocery or
department store, unless you know them from someplace else?)
Steve
... The law of self-preservation is surer policy than any legislation.
--- GEcho 1.00
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