Restaurant carry

[Berto]

Here's a weird one: I was just stopping by a restaurant for dinner, and noticed the big "NO MINORS" signs on the door. Noticeably absent were the "NO FIREARMS" signs that usually accompany these.
Erring on the side of prudence, I still stowed my weapon in my vehicle, but does anyone know what the legal status is of a situation like this? I've never run across that before.

 

[bofh]

Here's a weird one: I was just stopping by a restaurant for dinner, and noticed the big "NO MINORS" signs on the door. Noticeably absent were the "NO FIREARMS" signs that usually accompany these.
Erring on the side of prudence, I still stowed my weapon in my vehicle, but does anyone know what the legal status is of a situation like this? I've never run across that before.

Read RCW 9.41.300 (1)(d).

 

[Berto]

Yup: there it is in subsection D.
If it's off limits to minors, it's off-limits to firearms.
That's what I thought, but figured someone here would have a good answer.
Thanks for the quick response: I'm actually still in the restaurant!

 

[Wild Dog]

If I saw a sign like that outside a restaurant, I would obliterate it with a load of 00 buckshot. And then I would enter and have a meal with my weapons by my side.

 

[Berto]

You'd probably get free refills if you did that.

 

[Wild Dog]

You'd probably get free refills if you did that.

Now that you mention it, I did.

 

[Berto]

I should try that next time. I expect refills.

Steak refills.

 

[Wild Dog]

I should try that next time. I expect refills.

Steak refills.

Sounds like a plan, next time I go for dinner I'll demand it. And if they refuse I'll rack a round into my shotgun and dare them to refuse me.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Yup: there it is in subsection D.
If it's off limits to minors, it's off-limits to firearms.
That's what I thought, but figured someone here would have a good answer.
Thanks for the quick response: I'm actually still in the restaurant!

Actually, the statute reads that portion of an establishment designated by the liquor control board as off limits to <21 years of age. So, was the sign an actual liquor control board sign, or just something posted by the owner to keep kids out? And, BTW, a whole building that the liquor control board has designated as off limits to <21 years of age is not a restaurant - it's a bar.

 

[Berto]

That's what was so weird about it: they were actual state-issued "no minors" signs. It's a full-service restaurant: I imagine that the reason it's designated as "no minors" is because it does have a bar, but also a front dining area: but the building is very narrow and there's no way to put in the state-sanctioned dividers to keep minors away from the bar itself, especially since the restrooms are in the back and you have to pass within 5 feet of the bar itself to get to the restrooms. I know that the LCB has pretty strict rules about how restaurants are required to separate bar areas from restaurant areas.
The restaurant has a sister restaurant a couple of towns over that isn't minors-only, and it has the "no minors/no firearms" signs posted at the entrance to the designated bar area.
This is why I was confused.

 

[Reba]

That is a confusing law, and must make eating out an inconvenience for gun wearers in your state.

In SC, I've never seen such a sign at a restaurant because I've never seen a restaurant where anyone under age 21 would be prohibited from entering. The Charleston area has a high per capita number of restaurants, and most of them either have bars with them and/or serve alcohol at the table. Like the restaurant in your example, they also have restrooms located past the bar area. Unless a restaurant or bar has an official sign prohibiting guns, it's legal to conceal carry into the establishment, in my state.

The only sign I worry about on a restaurant is the "A" rating from the public health department.

Any chance of changing that law in WA?

 

[Berto]

It's tough to say. Washington has some of the strangest liquor laws imaginable. An example: a server between the ages of 18 and 21 can carry open bottles of beer to a table, but not closed bottles. The same server can carry a closed bottle of wine and open it tableside, but can't carry an open bottle of wine.

The liquor control board requires "bar areas" to be separated from "dining areas" by a barricade of at least 3 feet high and 3 feet from the bar.
Apparently because being in the vicinity of alcohol as a minor is a threat to their well-being. Just being CLOSE to booze will probably ruin their lives.

Honestly though: most of the time it's very clear. If a place is JUST a bar, it's a no go. If it's a restaurant, you're almost always fine unless something weird happens like I just experienced.