FIREMISSION -- Restaurant Carry Meeting in Sumter

[armaborealis]

From a shooting buddy, RSO, instructor, and politically active NRA member:

As you are all aware, Nikki Haley recently signed legislation into law allowing CWP holders to carry into restaurants (and bars) that serve alcohol for onsite consumption. In several cities in SC, Moms Demanding Gun Sense/Moms Demanding Action has teamed up with the League of Women Voters and has been holding "informational" meetings targeting restaurant and bar owners along with other merchants "educating" them on posting legally enforceable No Concealed Weapons signs. This effort is coming to Sumter Monday evening.

A few days ago I was made aware of a meeting planned for Monday, April 14th at 6:00pm being held on the 3rd floor of the County Administration Building on Canal Street adjacent to the old Courthouse. I contacted representatives of the League of Women Voters and have been denied the opportunity to be on the presentation panel to represent the CWP holders. The panel supposedly consists of restaurant and bar owners and Sheriff Dennis and Police Chief Roark. My suspicion is this will be a one-sided anti carry effort where legally armed citizens will marginalized and be painted as a liability to the business and its owners.

As CWP holders, we waited a long time for the privilege to carry our concealed weapons into restaurants. If we don't pushback against these efforts we will lose this recently acquired privilege.

Please attend this meeting and please pass the word along so we can pack the place with CWP holders. I don't participate in Facebook but would encourage those who do to pass this along to as many CWP holders as possible. Let's rock the house!

I plan on attending with my wife. I am a new dad (Huzzah!) and plan on asking League of Women Voters to be on the panel too -- make them say no. If you are interested in doing so as well, PM me and I'll send what info I can so you can request permission.

I do suggest that you attend.
1) Be polite and courteous even to our political foes. Remember, the antis want to create an optic of gun owners "bullying" them. Don't let them get a picture or quote that can be taken out of context.
2) Dress in business casual or Sunday attire. Polo shirts and slacks are appropriate at a minimum. We want to project an image of reasonableness and show local business owners that we are upstanding members of the community with disposable income. This is not a time for Gadsden flags (unless it is a tasteful pin) or raucous tactics. Remember, we are appealing to business owners, managers, and corporate types.
3) I will bring handouts with the facts and business cards of a "no guns/no money" theme to pass out. If you want some approach me the day of, or I can email them to you (PM me). I don't think the forum will let us talk so we need to make sure the business owners get both sides of the story using informal discussion and handouts.
4) Be prepared for media interaction. My handouts will have some brief talking points. Remember that anything you say can be taken out of context. Be enthusiastic, polite, and brief. Stick to the talking points. Be honest and don't exaggerate. Stay positive. You are always on the record. Right now I am thinking a theme along the lines of, "49 states now allow peaceable citizens to carry sidearms in restaurants and we're really excited that South Carolina has joined the mainstream by allowing us to protect our families and loved ones when we go out to eat. Holders of concealed weapons permits have proven themselves to be peaceful, law abiding members of the community and we're honored to have earned the trust of the state, law enforcement, and our local business owners. We look forward to patronizing our local businesses with our families!"

49 states citation: http://my.opencarry.org/?page_id=150

 

[11B3XCIB]

Keep us in the loop in any others pop up

 

[armaborealis]

I spoke with the organizer from League of Women Voters last night.

1) Confirmed meeting time and place as advertised.
2) Tried to get myself and/or my wife (we're both instructors and CWPers and parents) on the panel, no dice.

The LOWV rep is happy that we are coming, though. I was polite, minded my "ma'ams" and "pleases" and other manners, and confirmed that our intent is to educate and help local business owners make informed decisions. LOWV is non-partisan so definitely keep your political party comments at home. This is purely about a narrow slice of CCW activism. The larger war is won with many small battles!

See you on Monday.

 

[Midnight Raver]

Good luck in your endeavors, may they be successful!

 

[armaborealis]

Full AAR pending.

Short version: Pro-2A folks filled about 1/3 to 1/2 the room. I think we convinced at least a few fencesitters based on 1-on-1 conversations I had and overhead after the forum.

 

[wylie]

What are the statistics if a business places a sign in the window stating no weapons allowed, what percentage of the population in South Carolina would he lose business from who has a concealed weapons permits. Do business owners even realize how much business they would be losing by putting these signs. Or do they just think soccer moms control the world. Perhaps the business should just place signs in his business like they have for smoking they have smoking sections so why can't they have concealed carry permit sections

 

[armaborealis]

Wylie -- 6% of SC adults have a CWP, per SLED's figures as of Dec 31, 2013. CWP holders are disproportionately likely to have a job and disposable income, and having a CWP in most states (can't prove it for SC, don't have the data handy) is correlated with more educational attainment.

 

[armaborealis]

AAR:

The room was FULL. The League of Women Voters was not aware what they cracked open! I'd say a few dozen folks, easy. The room divided roughly as follows:
- Pro carry (about 1/3 to 1/2)
- LOWV regulars, leaning anti-carry (1/3)
- Morris College students (1/6)
- Other cats and dogs (1/6)

The panel members consisted of:
- Sumter Sheriff Dennis: Anti-carry but made noises about "I'm pro-2A, just think we need tougher laws like NYC, BECAUSE OFFICER SAFETY"
- Sumter Police Chief: Actually neutral. "My officers will evenly enforce the laws and this will not change our SOPs."
- Raven's Nest Owner: Anti-carry, but has his own CWP. Frankly I think he's full of BS. He told some stories about having to draw down on customers.
- Serendipity Owner: Anti-carry former cop.
- League of Women Voter's moderator: Some old guy, odd considering it is the league of WOMEN voters.

Special guests who had significant speaking time despite not being on the panel included:
- Representative from the SC legislature
- A bunch of instructors
- A rabid antigun city councilman who oddly is a constable and carries everywhere himself, but the little people are not to be trusted

The hard core antis can never be persuaded. The good news is they came off as emotional, irrational, and ranting. The pro-gun folks kept their cool and relied on facts and reason. I provided handouts and fact sheets as I knew we would not get much speaking time to make our case.

Things got a bit heated at some points.
- After the sheriff went on and on about how alcohol and guns don't mix, even after it was pointed out that drinking while carrying is illegal, he continued to cling to the point that just being around alcohol would be sufficient. I burst in and spoke over/past the moderator and asked the sheriff that given that he just had a deputy arrested for shooting up a house while drunk, and that it is apparently impossible for people to resist the Demon Rum, if he would ban [span style='font-weight: bold;'][span style='text-decoration: underline;']his [/span][/span]off-duty officers from carrying in restaurants that serve alcohol as a matter of department policy. He dodged and weasel worded somewhat but the looks on people's faces showed that the hypocrisy was evident. The Sumer police chief was much more up front about stating that his officers would be held to the same standards as the people and that his view was consistent on this issue.
- We pointed out that 49 states (all except LA) have some form of Restaurant Carry. It is no big deal in any other state. The Sheriff then ranted about how he thinks gun laws should be more like NY and offer severe penalties which would dissuade people from drinking while carrying. An instructor pointed out that in NYS you can drink and carry so long as you're under 0.08, whereas in SC it is a serious crime to even drink a DROP while carrying. THat took the wind out of Mr. "We need more common sense NY-style gun laws" sails.
- The councilman/constable got really emotional and fired up several times.

Things that pissed me off:
- Sheriff Dennis is definitely antigun. Whenever anyone says "I'm a supporter of the 2A but..." prepare yourself. Then again he is just looking out for his constituents who tend to be of the "my baby didn't do nuffin" variety. He waited until closing comments to pull out the "OFFICER SAFETY" canard. I confronted him on this afterwards and he admitted privately that it is BS and his officers are trained to consider every suspect at every stop as potentially armed, even in gun free zones. He also admitted privately that CWP holders do not cause trouble or pose a threat to his officers but he still doesn't like "shall issue" or the number of places we can carry.
- Anti-gun loonies. Standard. I'm just glad they came off as bug **** nuts and we came off as reasonable and logical.
- The LOWV doesn't realize that their official position is extremely anti-gun. They want may-issue, AWBs, registration, etc etc. That is FAR outside the mainstream in 2014, where 50 states have carry, all of which except NY/NJ (post-Peruta) are "SHALL ISSUE" or "CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY."
- There is continual confusion -- encouraged by the Sheriff -- between lawful CCWers and thugs carrying illegally. The antis, helped by the Sheriff, equate the two groups.
- The racial politics in SC are ridiculous. The table ended up lined up with all the white people on one side and all the black people on the other and that is how most of them viewed the carry issue. I would have intentionally mingled to break it up had we not been some of the first there. Not being from the deep south I find it jarring. Privately several African American folks came up afterwards and asked about lawful CCW but publicly they seem hesitant to speak up in front of the group. I privately pointed out to a few that SC's old "may issue" regime was a Jim Crow-era racist legacy and that SC was one of the last states to overturn it when "shall issue" swept the Free States in the 80s and 90s. This really resonated with them.


Media coverage: I bought a copy of the Item. The issue made the front page above the fold. The headline blared about "GUNS IN BARS!!!! ZOMG!" and the first page was all emotional drivel from the owner of the Raven's Nest about how he drew down on some chick unlawfully carrying and threatening him, conflating her with a lawful CCWer. Then the rest was split between pro-gun stuff from the Rep that showed up and anti-gun stuff from the Sheriff and councilman.

Assessment: I think this was a win. At least a few folks came and asked about getting their CWPs afterwards. Some of the college kids seemed receptive too. The media rep ignored us and we were in enough photos with our NRA pins and attire that they were limited in the photos they could use. The State Rep got significant time in the Item newspaper article to make our case but none of our info/facts made it in. I am writing a letter to the editor and suggest others do so as well.

 

[11B3XCIB]

Thanks for the update. I'd cross posted the original fire mission on another board. Not sure if it did any good, but I tried. I appreciate your efforts on all our behalves.

 

[NGIB]

GA went through this in 2008 as the antis were screaming that blood will run in the streets and it will be like returning to the old west - what actually happened - nothing at all. It's truly sad just how racially polarized it is in SC and I doubt it will change in my lifetime. I've lived in Sumter for 18 years and it never changes...

 

[armaborealis]

There have been several letters to The Item on this issue, on our side.

I suggest that anyone who feels strongly about this draft a quick letter to The Item. You can just point out that CCW permit holders very rarely get into any trouble, have disposable income, and will boycott businesses that post.

http://www.theitem.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/

Letters to the Editor are written by readers of the newspaper. They should be no more than 350 words and sent via e-mail to [email protected], dropped off at The Item office, 20 N. Magnolia St. or mailed to The Item, P.O. Box 1677, Sumter, S.C. 29151, along with the full name of the writer, plus an address and telephone number for verification purposes only. Letters that exceed 350 words will be cut accordingly in the print edition, but available in their entirety online at