Upset restaurant owner about OCing

teemgreen99 said:

personally i would get some others to solo UOC in flap jacks, different OCers on different days. It might make them think that its something that they are going to be seeing a lot more of. I mean what are they going to do turn down a paying law abiding customer on a daily basis.

Click to expand...

Oh good- so you would like to antagonize the business owner into taking action against our activities. How quickly do you think they would put up a sign on the front door that says NO FIREARMS? And how does the prominent advertisment of a NO FIREARMS policy fit into your plan on normalizing exposed carry in your community?

Great attitude condition three i offer my sincerist apologies for making a suggestion! Clearly the restuarant owner has already told the first OCer he is not welcome with the firearm so for all we know they have already considered a sign or already have put one up. Would you suggest that we call them on a monthly basis to see if its ok with them now? Or perhaps we could wait for our many friends in office to help us with OC here in California. I fail to see how me going into restaurant to sit peacfully for a meal is antagonizing simply because someone else i know was asked to leave for doing the same thing already.

oh I almost forgot I myself have been to places where others have been asked to leave and nobody said anything to me. If they dont ask me to leave then why should I not go there? Sometimes you have to give people a little nudge for changes to be made, they dont just happen on there own and or overnight.

teemgreen99 said:

Great attitude condition three i offer my sincerist apologies for making a suggestion! Clearly the restuarant owner has already told the first OCer he is not welcome with the firearm so for all we know they have already considered a sign or already have put one up. Would you suggest that we call them on a monthly basis to see if its ok with them now? Or perhaps we could wait for our many friends in office to help us with OC here in California. I fail to see how me going into restaurant to sit peacfully for a meal is antagonizing simply because someone else i know was asked to leave for doing the same thing already.

Click to expand...

+1

+1 for Team Green,

I have never been asked to leave a place. Some of which I know that others have been.
IE: costco , walmart, home depot,

I think trying to give them information was a good idea, but I doubt it will change their minds.

What might work is giving info on places like Luby's vs. the Waffle House in Kennesaw, GA. One was a massacre, the other the criminals admitted to police that they were waiting to rob the restaurant until the OC guys left.

This morning 15 or so of us had a pancake breakfast at a little restaurant and most of our group were armed (loaded, legal in WI). AFAIK none of the other customers said anything. There certainly weren't any people screaming in terror & running for the doors. The manager even invited us back.

like MKE gal said, and remember, open carriers are an economic force! educate the merchants to understand that where the OCer goes, his money goes. here in our oppressive state, some select businesses welcome us, and we decend upon them in large groups, and spend alot of money at these establishments. approach a business from that angle, if it's a small diner; ask if you can have an OC get together there, let them see that you are all law abiding citizens, and see your dollars. next thing you know they are welcoming you back!

+1 OP; +1 Big Toe; +1 tmgreen; +1 Iopencarry

I agree with all or parts of what these folks said.

Thanks for a cordial thread.

markm

teemgreen99 said:

I fail to see how me going into restaurant to sit peacfully for a meal is antagonizing simply because someone else i know was asked to leave for doing the same thing already.

Click to expand...

teemgreen99 said:

Sometimes you have to give people a little nudge for changes to be made, they dont just happen on there own and or overnight.

Click to expand...

McX said:

... and remember, open carriers are an economic force! educate the merchants to understand that where the OCer goes, his money goes.

Click to expand...

Allow me to put this in it's proper perspective if you will.

The business owner, whether it be the owner of this restaurant, or The Buckhorn, or the executives at Starbucks have a great deal of power with respects to what open carry advocates do at their business. While Starbucks was not goaded into prohibiting lawful behavior at their coffee shops by the Brady Campaign, little 'Mom and Pop' locations will be much more easily influenced if they think that they will lose customers over it. Right now, alot of people are broke, including these 'Mom and Pop' businesses. Starbucks has more than 7,000 company run locations in the U.S. and there is one Flapjack's Cafe. All it takes is a handful of complaints and it won't matter how many open carry advocates show up to 'nudge' them, they will not risk their income,... their job... to take a stand on something they are not politically vested in.

Another thing that is not being taken into account, is that here in California, gunowers are a largely rural minority. Of all the gunowners in California, only a small percentage of them even support open carry and even fewer practice open carry with any frequency. Would you like hard numbers? There are only about 400 members from California registered here at OCDO. I would wager that fewer than 10% of those open carry on more than one occasion a month. Besides myself, I can count on my hands members that open carry with any frequency. This is not an overwhelming majority. Yes, we spend money and tip well. But this isn't enough to compel acceptance of open carry in every situation.

If a business owner asks you to leave, do it without making a scene or causing them any more grief. The OP did the right thing by trying to smooth things over and educating them about the law. But businesses should not be made a target of some ill-conceived effort to force them to accept your point of view in the same manner that the Brady Campaign has sought to with Starbucks and other businesses- we have more class than that.

If i am asked to leave i always do so peacefully, however i stand by my original argument. If you let the antis beat you to the punch then hope is lost. I have never seen anyone complain about carrying where i go, maybe question it but never complain. No matter how hard we try or how much education we put out there, there will always be a percentage of people against self protection. Maybe in our favor maybe against our favor but if we dont but forth the effort in our beliefs we will never know.