I have a confession to make. Most of these “patriot” organizations annoy me. It’s not just because I’m not a patriot (in fact I find the entire concept of patriotism perplexing) but also because a lot of members of these groups tend to be knee-jerk reactionaries.
A couple of people I know were sharing a story about a guardsman being kicked out of Waffle House because he was carrying a gun. This upset quite a few self-proclaimed patriots because guardsmen are apparently even better than you so when they’re booted from an establishment for carrying it’s doubleplus ungood. As it turns out, the guardsman wasn’t kicked out for carrying a gun. He was kicked out because he was carrying a gun after being involved in a fight in the establishment:
The Waffle House franchise owner told Eater that Welch, the National Guardsman, had been kicked out of the restaurant for fighting a couple of weeks prior to being asked to leave his gun outside.
A representative of the Oath Keepers, one of those “patriot” organizations that tend to get on my nerves, said the claim was completely fabricated. It could be but I would find it strange for a franchise owner to make such a claim since it could be considered slanderous.
Working on the assumption the franchise owner was telling the truth (mostly to make a point), had I been in his position I would have also supported my employee’s decision to kick the guardsman out. If you’ve been involved in a fight in my establishment you’re not getting back in. Period. And if I had a leave of my sense and decided to let you back in I certainly wouldn’t let you bring a weapon in with you. Once you’ve proven yourself to be a liability I, as a business owner, and going to take whatever steps are necessary to protect myself, my employees, my property, and my customers.
Let us remember the saloons of the Old West. A lot of people carried guns in those days. Saloon owners recognized the combination of alcohol and firearms was really bad. To protect themselves and their patrons from the known hazards of combining alcohol and firearms the bartender often required patrons to surrender their arms if they wanted to drink. The situation the same if you have a patron who is known to be violent.
As a gun owner you should have a right to carry a firearm. Property owners should also have the right to determine who and who cannot be on their property. If they don’t want to allow armed individuals onto their property their desire should be respected (it’s their loss anyways). The key for gun owners is not to be a dick and therefore hopefully be welcome in most establishments.