A bill that would give customers the right to take guns into restaurants which have certain liquor licenses has been introduced in the Arizona Senate.
Restaurant owners who do not want firearms in their establishments would be required to post signs about the ban.
Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, said current law bans people from carrying a weapon into any business with a liquor license. He said his proposal is aimed at leveling the playing field.
"This should be up to the business owner to exercise their property rights to decide whether or not they want to allow a patron to exercise their Second Amendment rights," said Harper, who tried unsuccessfully to get a similar bill passed last year.
Harper said the main difference between last year's bill and the current version is that this year's proposal is limited to restaurants that have a Class 12 liquor license, which means they are allowed to sell just a low-volume or a casual amount of alcohol.
"If someone comes into a restaurant and they're not consuming alcohol, that's no different than them walking through a Wal-mart, K-mart or Target that sells firearms and has alcohol," Harper said. "If you're not consuming, there's no reason why the business owner shouldn't be allowed the decision to allow you to exercise your Second Amendment rights."
Article here. The last time the Arizona legislature passed a restaurant carry bill, Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed it. Hopefully, now that Gov. Napolitano is on her merry way to bigger and better things in the Obama administration (as head of the Department of Homeland Security), law-abiding gun owners will have better luck getting this change in the law.
From the description in the article, the current bill is limited to certain types of restaurants (presumably not bars), but well ... baby steps, baby steps. In contrast to Virginia, where open carry is currently legal in restaurants, I believe no form of carry is currently legal in Arizona restaurants.
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