Businesses prepare for expanded gun laws

Monica Burton | July 25, 2013

Southern states are revising gun laws, and many have enacted wide-reaching concealed and open carry gun laws.

In North Carolina, lawmakers recently approved a bill that allows concealed-carry permit holders to bring their guns into bars, restaurants and other places where alcohol is served, as long as the property owner doesn’t expressly forbid it. The new law also makes it legal to carry guns on playgrounds and other public recreation areas and to keep guns in locked cars on public school and university campuses.

Open carry laws allow gun in parking lots and public parks. From Tim Samoff.

In Mississippi, businesses have already begun preparing for that state’s new open carry gun law to go into effect. (A Hinds County judge had placed a ban on the law, but it was scheduled to be lifted July 12.) And how are they preparing? With signs.

Shopping malls, small businesses and even a Jackson, MS nightclub have put up signs notifying patrons of their bans on guns, whether or not the state allows it.

This Tennessee bar won’t allow guns despite the fact that guns are now permitted in bars in Tennessee. From Denise Mattox.

While businesses have jurisdiction over their own property, these firearm bans have been met with backlash. A Facebook page titled “Dangerous Businesses of Mississippi” does not, as some might think the name implies, catalog businesses that allow concealed weapons. On the contrary, the page, which had 98 likes as of July 9, accuses stores and restaurants that restrict weapons of being anti-American and discriminating against gun owners.

However, spelling out the rules is essential for businesses in light of these new laws, and helpful to those patrons who would rather not frequent enclosed spaces that permit concealed or even open weapons. Posting clear signage is the most effective way to do this.

This sign may be more effective than the hand-written version above. From MyDoorSign.

As a Georgia man who attempted to visit the Empire State Building with a gun in his backpack recently proved, even the presence of metal detectors (something you think would be a clear indicator of a “no guns allowed” policy) can fail to drive home the point.