Carry in restaurants that change to 21-and-over in the evening?

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Folks,

RCW 9.41.300 (d) includes "that portion of an establishment classified by the state liquor control board as off-limits to persons under twenty-one years of age" as placess off-limits to the carry of firearms?

But what of those establishments that are all-ages up until a certain time, and then convert to 21-and-over later? Exactly what is the time when a carrying patron must be off the premises? This question came up because I'm possibly attending a meeting at just such a place next week. In response to my question, "Are you a 21+ establishment only?" the person on the phone replied, "We let all ages in until about 8:00 or 8:30, but they'd have to be out for sure by 9:00."

The RCW doesn't address this nuance, and I don't really want to become a test case...

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Thats a good one but I would have to guess that the place you are talking about here would not fall under 9.41.300 until 9pm. That is when it becomes off limits to persons under 21 as classified by the state liquor control board. It would be treated as a restaurant until the point in time when persons under 21 must leave.

I could not find any info on the liquor control boards site that even referances this type of establishment. I guess we can chalk up another poorly written law.

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That's right. As long as people under 21 are allowed in, so is your gun. It's that simple.

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expvideo wrote:

That's right. As long as people under 21 are allowed in, so is your gun. It's that simple.

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+1... in my non-legal opinion.

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But if it is after 9:00 PM, those under 21 are not so most likely your gun is not either.

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OK, the evening went off w/o incident. No problems at all....


However, there sure could have been, due to the weird (imo) way the restaurant notified patrons about the conversion-to-adults-only: nothing at all!

The only reason I even know about it was that I called and asked, as the name is one of those "bar and grille" type names that might suggest it's a licensed establishment. That's how I found out the situation in the first place.

But when I arrived and actually entered, there was no firearms-restricted sign visible anywhere, not even covered up as far as I can tell, and no other written notification posted that sometime soon this very evening, the place was going to convert to 21-and-over.

And then, when the magic hour came, I left because I knew I needed to, but no kind of announcement was made about the change in status of the place. Now maybe the hostess could see that nobody present could possibly be underage (certainly true of my party!) but they are apparently completely oblivious to the other legal aspects of the situation. I think a call to the manager is in order...

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kparker wrote:

I think a call to the manager is in order...

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Agreed.

I didn't catch if you were OC'ing at the time, but I assume you were, as you said you had to leave at that time. If that's the case "hooray!" for another uneventful Open Carry!:celebrate