Guns and alcohol a great mix. Amazing how so many think that anyone who believes they shouldn't have a right to carry a gun into a public place is an encroachment on their freedom. If you have the right to CCW then shouldn't any establishment have the right to ban anyone that is carrying a gun?

They do have the right to refuse service to anyone. And noone that is arguing for the right to carry has said they shouldnt have the right to refuse service.

And to Becky Thatcher, i dont think anyone WANTS to be in a situation that escalates to where you have to protect yourself. But unfortunetly it happens, and the people who carry, carry in order to protect themselves and their children. I also guarantee that you have been next to someone that was carrying a concealed firearm, and they did not harm you, there were no "bullets flying", and the police and state control the CCW lincense program and "police" the holders of the licenses.

This is a good idea...why should only criminals be carrying guns. We would all be safer if good law abiding citizens are secretly carrying guns...let's empower the people and take power from the criminals.

Just read the requirements for CCW: take a required firearms safety course and apply in person. Not very burdensome, if you ask me. Are there annual renewal tests? Do they test aim? Any ongoing training? CCW permit holders may be aware of their responsbility - that doesn't mean that they are excellent under pressure and when you take a gun out to use it, you'd better believe that you are under pressure. Shoot first, ask questions later? Also, if you are CCW - how will a potential robber know that you have a gun? Are they so smart that they will think, gee, better not try to get this guy's wallet - I know that Ohio law lets him CCW. They are just lying in wait before you get to your car and pistol.....no, I don't think so. I know I sound sarcastic; I strongly believe that there is no reason to have guns in a bar. It doesn't matter that it was "meant" for restaurants - the law is not written that way.

As a CCW permit holder, I agree that guns in "bars" could be a receipe for trouble. Much less so for guns in restaurants that happen to serve alcohol. How do you distinguish between the two? If there's a jar of pink pickled eggs on the bar, is it restaurant? What if the bar has a microwave for frozen pizza? I often enjoy lunch at a bar. Sometimes I have a diet Coke, sometimes I have one or two lite beers. Today, I'll have to leave my gun at home or in the car. I'd like to be able to carry when I stop for a bite. Also, this fear that a CCW permit holder's gun will be taken away from them is unfounded. As long as the weapon is concealed and carried in a retention-type holster, this will not happen. I don't know about most permit holders, but I have nearly 40 years experience with firearms and I practice at the range a couple time a month. Unless otherwise warranted, I carry my firearm with an empty chamber so as to eliminate the possibility of an inadvertent discharge. Another dinner won't fear me - I use words and phrases like "please", "thank you", "yes sir" and "have a good day". I'll only use my firearm in a situation where my life or the life of those in my party is endangered. I don't carry to protect strangers.

Becky .. from your 9:am post.---I guess that a person who has had a colostomy should wear a tag of some kind so that it would warn others of the bags prescence so that if it offends them they can move away from that individual.

I don't like mosquitos , so should we out law them?
There is nothing to worry about because 99% of bar owners in the state will put the no guns flag on their door.
Why not get rid of the alcohol, it causes more problems than concealed weapons?

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

I will not carry a gun.... I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I'll even hari-kari if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun! ~Hawkeye, M*A*S*H

For the year 2004 (All rates indicate the crude per capita firearm death rate per 100,000 people):

Total Number of Firearm Injuries: 64,389
Total Number of Firearm Fatalities: 29,569

How Are Victims Killed?

* Homicide: 11,624 / 39% of All Fatalities
* Suicide: 16,750 / 57% of All Fatalities
* Unintentional Death (Accidental): 649 / 2% of All Fatalities

How Are Victims Injured?

* Assault Injury: 43,592 / 68% of All Injuries
* Unsuccessful Suicide Attempt: 3,352 (may be incorrect -- actual number may be larger, see CDC website) / 5% of All Injuries
* Accidental Injury: 16,555 / 26% of All Injuries

Firearm Victims by Age

* Under Age 25
o Fatalities: 7,670 / Rate: 7.2 / 100,000
o Injuries: 31,903 / Rate 29.93 / 100,000

* Ages 26-54
o Fatalities: 14,823 / Rate: 12.18 / 100,000
o Injuries: 29,005 / Rate: 24.6 / 100,000
* Ages 55 - 85
o Fatalities: 7,049 / Rate: 24.6 / 100,000
o Injuries: 4,265 / Rate: 5.03 / 100,000

The United States experiences epidemic levels of gun violence, claiming over 30,000 lives annually, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For every person who dies from a gunshot wound, two others are wounded. Every year, more than 100,000 Americans are victims of gun violence. In addition to those who are killed or injured, there are countless others whose lives are forever changed by the deaths of and injuries to their loved ones.

Gun violence touches every segment of our society. It increases the probability of deaths in incidents of domestic violence, raises the likelihood of fatalities by those who intend to injure others and among those who attempt suicide, places children and young people at special risk, and disproportionately affects communities of color.

Mass shooting tragedies like the school shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007 and Northern Illinois University in February 2008 – or the 1993 office shooting in San Francisco that led to the formation of Legal Community Against Violence – receive significant media attention. However, gun deaths and injuries in the U.S. usually occur quietly, without national press coverage, every day.

Using a gun in self-defense is no more likely to reduce the chance of being injured during a crime than various other forms of protective action.(47)

Of the 13,636 Americans who were murdered in 2009, only 215 were killed by firearms (165 by handguns) in homicides by private citizens that law enforcement determined were justifiable.(48)

A study reviewing surveys of gun use in the U.S. determined that most self-reported self-defense gun uses may well be illegal and against the interests of society.(49)

47. David Hemenway, Private Guns, Public Health 78 (2004).
48. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Crime in the United States, 2009, Expanded Homicide Data Table 15, at http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_15.html (last visited Oct. 10, 2010). (A “justifiable homicide” in this context is defined by the FBI as the killing of a felon, during the commission of a felony, by a private citizen.)
49. David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael & Matthew Miller, Gun Use in the United States: Results from Two National Surveys, 6 Inj. Prevention 263, 263 (2000).

A National Academy of Sciences report reviewing existing data on the effectiveness of firearm laws, including research purporting to demonstrate that concealed carry (also called “right-to-carry”) laws reduce crime, found that the “evidence to date does not adequately indicate either the sign or the magnitude of a causal link between the passage of right-to-carry laws and crime rates.”

From 1993 to 2001, an annual average of 737,360 violent crimes were committed with handguns in the U.S., making handguns seven times more likely to be used to commit violent crimes than other firearms.50

Although handguns make up only 34% of firearms, approximately 80% of firearm homicides are committed with a handgun.

Women face an especially high risk of handgun violence.52 In 2008, 71% of female homicide victims were killed with a handgun.

A California study found that in the first year after the purchase of a handgun, suicide was the leading cause of death among handgun purchasers.54 In the first week after the purchase of a handgun, the firearm suicide rate among the purchasers was 57 times as high as the adjusted rate in the general population.

The U.S. has the highest rate of firearm deaths among 25 high-income nations.66 Another study concluded that among 36 high-income and upper-middle-income countries, the U.S. has the highest overall gun mortality rate.67

The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children under the age of 15 is nearly 12 times higher than that among children in 25 other industrialized nations combined.68

The firearm-related suicide rate for children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old in the United States is nearly 11 times higher than that in 25 other developed countries.69

Americans own far more civilian firearms – particularly handguns – than people in other industrialized nations and U.S. gun laws are among the most lax in the world.70