Pizza Huts shift gears on firearms possession ...

[spin]

New policy lets customers carry weapons but doesn't apply to 1,000 restaurant workers

Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Sunday, June 20, 2010 12:00 am

The company that owns most of Southern Arizona's Pizza Huts has reversed policy and is allowing customers to carry firearms into the restaurants if they are legal possessors.

Patrick McKinney, vice president of operations for Tucson-based Pizza Hut of Arizona, said he began reconsidering the company's policy of prohibiting guns after reading a newspaper article about the state's new concealed-carry law.

That law, which goes into effect July 29, allows people 21 or older (and not prohibited from having a firearm) to carry a concealed gun without a permit.

McKinney and his staff held a meeting about the issue and began to remove the restaurants' signs banning firearms during the first week of June, he said in a written reply to questions.

The issue of customers with firearms is confronting private business owners as Arizona's gun laws become more liberal, and as gun-rights advocates press for public acceptance of carried firearms.

The issue may be particularly poignant in the case of Tucson Pizza Huts. In 1999, three employees of a Pizza Hut near the corner of East Broadway and Pantano roads were shot to death in an attempted robbery by two teens.

"We will never forget the tragedy of those murders in 1999 and what happened may have shaped our feelings about guns forever," McKinney wrote.

The new policy doesn't apply to employees, who won't be able to carry guns at work. "For safety reasons we have always had a 'no weapon' policy (while working) for all of us at Pizza Hut of Arizona," McKinney wrote.

***snip***

Alcohol adds an additional complexity to Arizona's gun laws and is relevant to Pizza Hut's decision in that many of the restaurants serve alcohol. Establishments that sell alcohol must permit the concealed carry of weapons by legal possessors unless they post a state-approved sign banning them. However, a person carrying a firearm may not drink alcohol while on the premises.
http://azstarnet.com/business/local/article_eac10bf7-363c-5acf-b899-dc012bfa04fe.html

[no limit]

1. Because carrying papers to conceal a gun is totally unconsitutional

having to carrying papers just to go outside on the other hand? Well that's American.

[gravity556]

2. Actually,

I'm pretty sure you need to have your state issued ID with you all the time anyhow.

[islandmkl]

3. actually, you DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE ANY PROOF OF ANYTHING in the USA...

concerning citizenship...if you aren't operating a vehicle, etc. that requires a LICENSE, or aren't conducting business that requires a LICENSE, etc...you only have to verbally respond to any inquiry...according to the SCOTUS...

there is absolutely no LEGAL REQUIREMENT concerning "PROPER PAPERS"...

jesus, it's scary how many people think that you have to be able to prove who you are in America...they then think this Arizona crap is just a little more of something that is already required...

[PavePusher]

6. If you are a non-Citizen here legally, you are required...

to keep your ID/entry paperwork on your person at all times. Just like in every other nation I've been in.

[no limit]

10. Right, but not if you are here legally.

But thats not the case in arizona any longer. Now everyone must carry papers at all times while the same legislation said you don't need any papers to carry a concealed weapon.

[PavePusher]

16. Incorrect.

Legal immigrants must have their green card on their persons at all times.

Visitors (tourists) are obligated to carry their passport/visa.

This is true in most other nations as well.

[no limit]

21. Not true for naturalized citizens.

[PavePusher]

23. Umm... I never said it was.

I meant only for legal non-Citizens.

[Euromutt]

13. True; before I was naturalized, I was required to carry my green card. However...

...there is a difference between being required to have a piece of paperwork on you on the one hand, and being required to show it on the other. If, during my days as a permanently resident alien, some sheriff's deputy or municipal police officer had asked me to show him proof of being present in the country, I'd have first asked what gave him the authority, as a non-federal agent, to inquire into my immigration status.

[JDPriestly]

4. Not when you are going for a walk. Not that long ago, many people

did not have state-issued IDs. Nobody needed such a thing. If you didn't drive, you didn't have an ID. The whole thing about having to have IDs is paranoid.

[gravity556]

5. I was mistaken...

However, if you get stopped on your walk (terry stop), because you happen to look like the guy who just flashed at the school bus stop or bear a strong resemblance to "Notorious Jay Walker John Doe", you'll be delayed for a much shorter time if you have ID.

Arizona Revised Statute 13-2412. Refusing to provide truthful name when lawfully detained; classification

A. It is unlawful for a person, after being advised that the person's refusal to answer is unlawful, to fail or refuse to state the person's true full name on request of a peace officer who has lawfully detained the person based on reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime. A person detained under this section shall state the person's true full name, but shall not be compelled to answer any other inquiry of a peace officer.

B. A person who violates this section is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.


And it's required that you have your DL with you when operating a motor vehicle. And if you stop for some shopping and whip out the plastic, it's going to be a pain in the ass if the clerk actually does his job correctly and asks for your ID.

[JDPriestly]

7. What is a part of federal law -- a part that is enforced,

is that if you are stopped on, I think the standard is still, reasonable suspicion (standard is loosened all the time), it is normal that the officer check your immigration status. And if you are convicted of a crime and here legally on a Green Card, you can face deportation. In that respect, the Arizona law is very much like federal law.

It's all a question of how these laws are enforced.

[jeepnstein]

9. I don't carry ID if I'm not driving or carrying concealed.

It's really not a big deal. Nobody should have to carry their "papers" just to prove identity to the state. If I cannot establish my identity sufficiently to the police, there is always a possibility I could be taken into custody until that identity is established. The odds of that happening to me are slim to none since the conduct of my daily affairs does not include criminal behavior.

Driving is a privilege, so I am compelled to carry my license and information. Carrying concealed is a licensed activity as well. Other than that I'm free to go around with empty pockets. Is this a great country, or what?

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Why?

Does your ID certify that you didn't flash any nearby school busses?

[Abq_Sarah]

20. Actually

Unless you're a citizen, you are required by law to carry "papers" with you at all times.

[spin]

8. It interests me that that new Arizona concealed carry law will not require a permit ...

Arizona to allow concealed weapons without permit

by Alia Beard Rau - Apr. 16, 2010 03:46 PM
The Arizona Republic

Starting later this summer, U.S. citizens 21 and older can begin carrying a concealed firearm without a permit in Arizona.

Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1108 into law Friday afternoon. It eliminates the requirement for a concealed-carry weapons permit, but does require gun owners to accurately answer if an officer asks them if they are carrying weapon concealed. It also allows officers to temporarily confiscate a weapon while they are talking to an individual, including during a traffic stop.

***snip***

"If you want to carry concealed, and you have no criminal history, you are a good guy, you can do it," bill sponsor Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has said of his bill. "It's a freedom that poses no threat to the public."

***snip***

Arizona had 154,279 active permits as of April 4. Permit holders are spread across all ages, races and counties, but White males older than 30 in Maricopa and Pima counties hold the majority, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety data.

***snip***

Arizona's permit process will remain in place, and many gun owners may still choose to get a permit. Permits would still be needed in order to carry a weapon into a restaurant or bar that serves alcohol. They would also be needed if an Arizonan wants to carry his or her gun concealed in most other states.

For those who do choose to get a permit, the education requirements do change under the new law. Classes are no longer required to be a set number of hours or include any hands-on use of the weapon. Those who don't get a permit would not be required to get any training or education.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/04/16/20100416arizona-concealed-weapons-bill16-ON.html#ixzz0rW7X3F7k

Of course, in Arizona you can open carry without a permit.

I wonder what will happen if a Hispanic individual is observed on the streets either openly carrying a firearm or "printing" while carrying a concealed weapon.

Is there a requirement to carry ID if you are packing heat? It would seem to me that an ID would be required to prove at a minimum that you were 21. Checking the Arizona Concealed Carry page at http://www.azdps.gov/services/concealed_weapons/ was no help as the information deals with the concealed weapons permit program.

[PavePusher]

18. No requirement for ID when carrying.

Even under the old system (until end of next month), you would only be required to carry your permit card if CCing, or OCing in a vehicle or other restricted places opened to a person under the CC permit. No additional ID required, unless engaged in a regulated activity like driving.

[spin]

19. Interesting. Thanks. (n/t)

[DonP]

12. 11 Posts and no "Blood will run in the streets" posts yet?

What's wrong with the gun control supporters these day?

People got all whipped into a frenzy just a couple months ago when Starbuck's did the same thing. Now Pizza Hut and nothing?

Maybe people are actually realizing that Starbuck's didn't become a bloodbath and just maybe there will be no change in Pizza Hut customers eating or shooting habits either.

This truly marks a new low for the Brady group. Not even able to come up with a panic stricken, catchy press release over tomato paste and blood etc.

[oneshooter]

14. Never been a problem in Texas

None of the Pizza Huts that I have been to are posted. A non-issue.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[east texas lib]

15. Hmm...

...The new policy doesn't apply to employees, who won't be able to carry guns at work. "For safety reasons we have always had a 'no weapon' policy (while working) for all of us at Pizza Hut of Arizona," McKinney wrote...


I would think that limiting legal liability drives the employee firearms policy. You know, the "safety" of the bottom line. The company probably has insurance on the employees lives, anyway in the event the worst happens (with the company being the beneficiary).

[Katya Mullethov]

17. My insurance agent had me put these up

What a sport .

[gravity556]

22. Awesome!

I love it.

[aikoaiko]

24. Hooray, pizza!

Post title inspired by Red Stripe beer commercials. :hi: