100 Gun Advocates Appear Armed At Bay Area Restaurant

[Semiauto]

wow...our fellow Gun enthusiast at in California seem to be picking up steam. I wish them all the best and pray one day they will be free to exercise their Second Amendment Rights

100 gun advocates appear armed at Bay Area restaurant

Restaurant hosts gathering of Open Carry advocates
By Janis Mara
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 02/06/2010 04:34:50 PM PST
Updated: 02/08/2010 07:03:41 AM PST


WALNUT CREEK — Gray skies and a spattering of rain didn't dampen the enthusiasm of about 100 members of the Open Carry movement, who showed up Saturday morning displaying unloaded guns at a restaurant in downtown Walnut Creek.
The group hopes to make it easier to legally carry a loaded gun in California and has been gathering in Bay Area restaurants for the past few months. The original meeting place for Saturday was to have been nearby California Pizza Kitchen, but that company made it clear Open Carry wasn't welcome, so the group moved to the Buckhorn Grill.
"We're not politically involved. We're a restaurant and we're serving food," regional manager Tom McLaughlin said as he welcomed the group into his establishment. Both Peet's Coffee & Tea and the Pizza Kitchen have banned guns from their premises in response to recent requests from the national Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, while Starbucks refused the campaign's request to do so.
Not everyone at the restaurant was a member of Open Carry. Some people came from as far away as Fremont and Sausalito to learn about the group. Other patrons were dismayed when they walked in and unexpectedly encountered a restaurant full of men with pistols on one hip and ammunition on the other.
"I'm a little worried," said Hayley King, of Walnut Creek, who stopped in for lunch. "I don't feel safe in here. I wouldn't have come if I had known."
"If it's (carrying guns) not
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for law enforcement, it's completely wrong," said Rumer Cantrell, a Walnut Creek resident who attends Carondelet High School in Concord. "Violence should never be promoted in any way. To be walking around saying, 'You can see I have a gun,' promotes violence.""By carrying a firearm I am creating a deterrent to violence," responded Jon Schwartz, of Livermore, an active Open Carry member who attended with his wife and baby daughter. "I hope I never have to draw my firearm in response to anyone else's actions."

100 gun advocates appear armed at Bay Area restaurant - San Jose Mercury News

[Mean Redneck]

Looks like them guys are moving right alone. Hope they dont give up, Im glad to see them take a stand!

[txruger]

i also wish them good luck

[kahrcarrier]

I would feel safer there than most other places.

[powder1]

Hope this will help with some of thier laws

[kahrcarrier]

Originally Posted by powder1

Hope this will help with some of thier laws

To help with their laws, they need to clean house in the legislature, then get out of hte 9th circuit.

[WVRifleman]

I saw a video the other day where the cops were pushin them up against the wall to make their weapon was unloaded. I hope one of these guys don't fly off the handle for the harrasment end of it and I believe it is but what are they gonna do?

[kahrcarrier]

I saw that too, and thought that it was just a little heavy handed, but I guess i don't know what the situation was. Sucked, though. Glad the guy had a cool head.