Monday, July 20, 2009

"Eat Out and Carry In"

This great headline was at the top of an article about Tennessee's expansion of its concealed carry law in the NRA magazine, America's 1st Freedom (August 2009, page 14). The NRA had supported a change in the concealed carry law to allow permit holders to carry their concealed guns into restaurants that serve alcohol, so long as they didn't drink alcohol themselves while armed.

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen had vetoed the bill, but both major parties worked together to over-ride his veto.

Just three months ago a man was gunned down in a sports bar in Nashville. His wife had a right-to-carry permit, but her gun was locked in her car because of the Tennessee law in effect at the time.

That story reminded me of Dr. Suzanna Hupp's story, which you can read elsewhere on this site (search for Hupp). She was having lunch with her parents in a Luby's Restaurant in Texas, when a crazed man drove his truck through the plate glass windows into the restaurant and began shooting people in the restaurant. Dr. Hupp's gun was locked in her car, instead of being in her purse. She told her story at last year's Second Amendment Freedom Rally in the Chicago Loop. She was 15 feet away from the killer, who executed both of her parents, along with about 20 other customers.

Dr. Hupp later ran for office in Texas and was instrumental in changing Texas law to allow concealed carry.

Dr. John Lott's book, More Guns, Less Crime, provides the facts that crime drops when law-abiding citizens are armed. It makes sense to me.

If you were a robber and you thought every tenth person on the street might be armed, wouldn't you think twice or more before pulling a gun on a victim? The victim might or not be armed, but there might be somebody nearby, ready to come to her rescue!

You don't have to carry a concealed weapon, but you will be safer if law-abiding, educated, trained, responsible citizens do. Help change Illinois law now.

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