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Legislators vote to permit guns in restaurants that serve alcohol

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PHOENIX — State senators voted Tuesday to let people carry guns into restaurants that serve alcohol.

The provision, tacked onto another measure dealing with restaurants, would overrule existing law that says people cannot have firearms where beer, wine and liquor are served.

It would allow a restaurant owner to ban customers with firearms. But there would have to be a notice "conspicuously posted at the primary public entrance . . . in a position that assures it is likely to be read.''

And to be effective, that note would have to be in inch-high letters.

Tuesday's preliminary approval of the provision could set the stage for another showdown between legislators and Gov. Janet Napolitano. She vetoed nearly identical legislation last year.

Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said people need to maintain their legal right to protect themselves.

Gould said the way the law reads now, someone who goes to a restaurant has to leave any gun in the car, even if that person is licensed to carry a concealed firearm, because diners can buy alcoholic beverages with their meals. He said that leaves the customer unprotected if assaulted in the parking lot.

That's exactly what happened in California, Gould said, when a customer leaving a restaurant was accosted by an armed robber, turned over his wallet but was shot.

"Had this man had the ability to carry a concealed weapon into that restaurant, or his wife did, that man might be alive today," Gould said.

But Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, said letting people carry guns into places where they can drink is a bad idea. As proof, she cited a former marriage to someone with a drinking problem.

"This man loved to fight, loved to brawl, and picked a fight every chance he got," she said. "If this man had access to a gun in a public bar or restaurant, it would have been very, very dangerous. It's a dangerous precedent to do this."

But Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, who crafted the provision, pointed out that the legislation would prohibit those who carry firearms into a restaurant from having a drink with their meals.

In vetoing similar legislation last year, Napolitano said she was swayed by opposition from law-enforcement agencies whose lobbyists have said guns and alcohol do not mix.