Hal Smith Group Restaurants

Hal Smith Group (http://www.ehsrg.com) owns and operates Charleston's, Upper Crust Pizza, Louie's, Mahogany Steak House, Hefner Grill, Hollies, Krispy Kream, Mama Roja, Red Rock Grill, The Garage in Edmond and Toby Keith's.

I emailed back in November when open carry passed because all of their restaurant locations were posted with gun busters. I also sent them a copy of OKOCA's letter to businesses. I never heard back from them and none of the signs changed.
I started leaving messages on their different restaurant facebook pages, and when I would go back and see if there were any comments, they all had been deleted.

Well fast forward to this morning and I was contacted by a member on this forum about Charleston's changing their signs. So I went to check it out for myself.

Sure enough, all the locations that I checked out have all replaced their "No Weapons" gun busters with "No Open Carry" gun busters. Now granted it still is a "gun buster" with the red circle and line through it (a revolver it believe it was) but it does not say, "No Weapons, it just now says "No Open Carry".

It's not a complete victory, but a huge step in the right direction from a company that owns and operations a lot of good restaurants in town.
If anyone else has contacted them, I would like to say thank you for the effort. More is needed to get the signs taken down completely, but this step tells me, even though they did not respond to any of my emails or correspondence, they have been paying attention and have been listening.

Again, it's not 100% ideal, but a good start. I think we should show a little support to them, maybe send them a thank you email on the website above, let them know that you appreciate the change and consideration and that you would like to see the signs taken down completely.

-Justin

Great Job on that Justin, koodos to you sir!


Dustin

Thanks Dustin.
I'm pretty sure I was not alone in my efforts, either people contacted them and did not post about it, or they are not on the forum, either way, I would like to think there was help from the "community"

And the above should read, "in November when open carry took effect", not "when open carry passed" I'm not very diligent in my proof reading :banghead:

My wife actually took me to dinner at Mahogany Steak House for my b-day this year. I too saw the gun buster sign in December and gave the manager a OKOCA letter. Im glad to hear that they gave in a little. I would hate to know that such a good steak is waiting just beyond those doors but I refuse to support a company that takes away rights. And yes, best steak I have ever had. Super pricey but well worth it.

glock27OKC said:

My wife actually took me to dinner at Mahogany Steak House for my b-day this year. I too saw the gun buster sign in December and gave the manager a OKOCA letter. Im glad to hear that they gave in a little. I would hate to know that such a good steak is waiting just beyond those doors but I refuse to support a company that takes away rights. And yes, best steak I have ever had. Super pricey but well worth it.

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Glock - Thank you for all your help. I too keep a stack of the letter to businesses from OKOCA in my car and give them to businesses as much as possible. It seems just a little effort goes a long ways and can actually get quite a bit accomplished.

I'm sorry but I still can't support them. While I won't fault people who choose to do so, having a "No Open Carry" sign is just as bad as having a "No Weapons" sign in my eyes.

Aknazer said:

I'm sorry but I still can't support them. While I won't fault people who choose to do so, having a "No Open Carry" sign is just as bad as having a "No Weapons" sign in my eyes.

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Aknazer, while I don't disagree with you, this is a step in the right direction. Even though we all may be use to the idea of carrying, many are not. I would be willing to help anyone I could regarding the issue. If they are willing to take baby steps in the right direction, I am willing to give them my encouragement, let them know that legally armed citizens are eating in their restaurants every day without incident and that there really is no need for the signs.
I'm willing to support and encourage just about any place that is willing to learn the facts and educate themselves on the matter, even if it is a slow process.
People and businesses who are not "into guns" will never take their signs down unless someone opens their eyes to the facts.