Background: In Arizona, people with CCW permits, and anyone
in legal possession of a fiream, are banned from eating in restaurants,
if the restaurants have liquor licenses. This means they must leave
their firearms in their cars, or go without them altogether, if they
plan on having a meal in most regular restuarants. There have been serious
efforts to fix this problem. In 2005, a solution was close, but the
news media literally lied and acted hysterically, in an effort to defeat
the restaurant-carry bill. There wasn't even a semblance of balance,
fairness, or accurate reporting on this, a case of fundamental rights
on the line. The news media showed its collective hatred of guns, gun
rights and gun owners. The bill was narrowly defeated, but it will be
back again next year.
NOTE: After four months of deceptive reporting, leading
to the defeat of an
important bill, the Arizona Republic today (Mon. 5/23/05, circ.: 500,000)
finally set therecord straight (sort of), by publishing an editorial
I wrote
addressing the grotesque media abuses we endured. See it on p. B7, or
read it below.Surprisingly, it ran unedited. Not surprisingly, the truth
remained supressed until now.
Why on Earth would the NRA promote laws so “gun-toting”
people could “pack heat” in bars and not drink? Say what?
That doesn’t even make sense. It’s beyond stupid. And in fact,
the NRA promoted no such thing.
But you wouldn’t know it from reading the papers or following newscasts.
The inaccurately characterized “guns-in-bars” bill received
twisted coverage, using derision and phony Wild West mythology, from
reporters and editors who earned rebuke for such unethical spin.
While reporters cried wolf and instilled fear in a public they misinformed,
70,000 FBI-certified Arizonans, licensed to discreetly carry firearms,
just hoped they would finally be allowed to eat meals in normal restaurants.
Without leaving their guns in their cars as current law requires. They
know it’s a bad law that leaves them defenseless. They know criminals
routinely steal guns from cars.
Rather than deal with important issues -- self defense and civil rights
-- on the merits, reporters deceived you, and wrote in a gun-o-phobic
way that cries out, literally, for medical attention. Editors who allowed
frequent demeaning slurs deserve reprimands.
Dignified treatment? The news foisted silliness about shotguns in nightclubs.
This was really the Breakfast-at-Denny’s bill, because Denny’s
has a liquor license. It was lunch at Applebee’s, with no drinking
allowed. But news people didn’t want you to understand that, because
if you did, you might support it, as 34 other states do -- without problems.
The media instead fed you hokum:
1: If CCW holders (and all innocent gun owners) can have guns in restaurants,
blood will run in the aisles. How long will the media promote this nonsense?
They said it ten years ago when the CCW law passed. It has been proven
false. Get off it already. It is the terrified psychological projection
of “hoplophobes,” people with irrational, morbid fear of guns.
It’s time to remove such bigotry from newsrooms.
2: Banning guns in restaurants makes everyone safer. To believe this,
you must believe hoodlums and psychopaths stay out thanks to door signs.
C’mon. Gun-free zones with no security provided are a hoax, known
to be dangerous and negligent. The only people stopped are honest ones.
Disarming innocent people is an act of violence. Criminals remain armed
under such fraudulent feel-good fantasies. People who create these reckless
zones should be held liable for any harm they cause. Here’s the
ugly non-secret -- shopkeepers take no steps whatsoever to keep out
armed criminals -- they just come and go. Storeowners know it.
3: Lobbyists’ desires are more important than your rights. The
right to arms is precious, time-honored, exceedingly valuable. Guns
save lives. Guns stop crimes. Guns are why America is still free. Liquor
lobbyists (a fine group to set moral standards), adamantly refused to
change the liquor laws to neatly separate restaurants from other liquor
vendors. Media bigots hid this from you. Governor Napolitano bowed to
them.
Decent, hard-working, honest Arizonans, who want to, and have a right
to keep their safety tools with them as they travel, eat and work, were
crushed by elitists who hate guns and hate Americans’ gun rights.
It’s not good to hate. I’ve documented many similar news-media
abuses, about the Minutemen, the new school gun-safety program and more,
at my website, gunlaws.com. They can’t win with facts, so they
deceive. Disgraceful.
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Alan Korwin is the author of seven books on gun law, including The Arizona
Gun Owner’s Guide, now in its 21st edition. He can be reached at
alan@gunlaws.com.
