A bill making it legal for someone with a concealed carry permit to take firearms into parks and restaurants made it out of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, but not before being amended to allow waiters and waitresses to ask anyone who orders a drink if they have a gun. Current concealed carry law does not allow guns to be carried into establishments where alcohol is sold. HB 111 would add an exception to allow concealed carry into restaurants. It would maintain the prohibition against anyone carrying a concealed weapon while consuming alcohol. Restaurants can post notice that concealed weapons are not allowed on their property at all.
Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, said restaurants that allow concealed firearms have an interest in making sure legally armed patrons don’t break the law by drinking alcohol. Ross amended the bill to allow restaurant servers to ask anyone ordering alcohol if they are carrying a firearm. Restaurants may decide to require servers to ask due to concerns about safety and civil liability, she said. “They’re already carding people,” Ross said. Rep. Jeff Barnhart, R-Cabarrus, a sponsor of the bill, said Ross’s amendment was unnecessary and asks servers to play at law enforcement.
Paul Stone, president of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, said his group does not support the amendment. “We are 100 percent opposed to any language asking any server to ask any customer whether they are armed,” he said. Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots North Carolina, a gun rights advocacy group, said Ross is ideologically opposed to guns and is simply trying to derail the bill. “I think Rep. Ross is trying to add a poison pill to the bill, because she knows there is no way she can defeat it otherwise,” he said.
Ross’s amendment picked up enough Republican support to pass, but a another amendment put forward by Rep. Larry Hall, D-Durham, did not. Hall unsuccessfully attempted to remove the section of the bill that would allow concealed weapons in state parks and would keep local governments from prohibiting concealed carry in local parks. The bill now heads to the full House for consideration.(, 3/10/11).
