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Alcohol and guns don't mix, bar employees say

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By James Sprague, Staff Writer 7:22 PM Monday, July 4, 2011

It may now be legal in Ohio for residents with concealed carry permits to enter establishments that serve alcohol, but for many employees and patrons of local bars, the idea of guns and alcohol is one that doesn’t mix.

Gov. John Kasich signed Senate Bill 17 into law Thursday, allowing residents with concealed-carry permits to carry their weapon into approximately 17,000 businesses throughout the state that hold Class D liquor licenses including bars, restaurants, malls and sports venues.

The law, which becomes effective Sept. 30, forbids permit holders from consuming alcohol in establishments while carrying a concealed firearm and allows establishments the option to enforce the former law banning firearms.

Many of Ohio’s sports teams, including the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns, and Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians, have previously pledged to continue their current policies regarding no firearms at sporting events.

Enforcement of the no-drinking condition is not specifically addressed by the new law, however, and it’s a condition that some bar patrons and employees throughout Butler County say will be ignored.

“How are you going to know who’s carrying and who’s not?” said Don Richards, a patron at the C&C Lounge in Ross Twp. “What’s going to stop those who are carrying from drinking?”

The idea of bringing a gun into a bar, however legal, is definitely a bad idea, Richards said, a sentiment also shared by Jill Morrissey, a bartender at Gina’s Italian Food and Spirits in Hamilton.

The idea is not only a bad idea, Morrissey said, but a frightening one.

“It scares the crap out of me because what if there is a bar fight?” Morrissey said. “It’s going to end badly.”

Much like Richards, Morrissey wonders whether patrons will adhere to the no drinking requirement of the law.

“I’m just worried,” Morrissey said. “Not about the people who follow the rules, but the ones who don’t.”

Whether the current no-firearms policy is still enforced at Gina’s after the new law goes into effect is up in the air, Morrissey said.

“It just depends on what the owners decide to do,” she said. “You would have to adapt and evolve, and tighten restrictions so no one gets hurt.”

Concern by customers and employees about the combination of firearms and alcohol, however, should be negated due to the new law, said Joe Eaton, the Southwest Ohio regional chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association.

“Everyone will agree that guns and alcohol don’t mix, but the fact they don’t mix is a nonstarter because the bill does not allow that at all,” Eaton said in May.

The new law also brings Ohio in line with other states throughout the country, Eaton said in May.

“There are more than 40 states that have similar laws,” said Eaton, a concealed carry permit holder since 2004. “I don’t know why Ohio citizens are thought to be any different than other citizens in other states.”

Despite the specifics forbidding CCW holders to consume alcohol in establishments while carrying a firearm, the new law has some bar employees scratching their head, especially in light of the state law prohibiting smoking in bars and restaurants for health reasons.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous and it confuses me,” said Elizabeth Allen, bar manager at Buck’s Sports Bar and Grille in Middletown. “They don’t allow smoking in bars for safety but they will allow guns? I would be worried about someone who was drinking taking someone else’s gun.”

The new law only brings new worries for employees who already deal with unruly customers and shootouts in the neighborhood surrounding the bar, Allen said.

“Liquor and firearms do not go hand in hand,” Allen said. “Who’s to say a drunk doesn’t get mad and takes it (a firearm) away from somebody else, jerks it out and shoots them?”

The bar’s current banning firearms will probably remain in effect, Allen said.

“I don’t think (owner Timothy Buchanan) will allow guns,” she said.

Local law enforcement officials are of the same mindset regarding the new law as bar customers and employees.

“Alcohol and weapons don’t mix,” Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones has said. “I support the conceal carry law, always have. But weapons in a restaurant where alcohol is consumed is just not a good idea.”

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