Restaurant carry

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.

Berto said:

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.

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Read RCW 9.41.300 (1)(d).

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!

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.

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

Berto said:

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

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Now that you mention it, I did.

I should try that next time. I expect refills.

Steak refills.

Berto said:

I should try that next time. I expect refills.

Steak refills.

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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.

Berto said:

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!

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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.

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.

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?

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.