DDN headline belongs with a different story
Reporters write the stories, but it's often news editors that write the headlines. After reading this DDN story about businesses and concealed carry, the headline reads like wishful thinking.
Gun-toters to face barred doors throughout Valley
Businesses post signs on weapons
By Jason Roberson
April 21, 2004
Dayton Daily News
You can carry a gun while shopping at a Meijer or Wal-Mart supercenter, making deposits at the US Bank inside of a Cub Foods store and eating at a number of fast-food restaurants in the Dayton area.
But leave it in the car when walking through the mall, placing a subscription at the Dayton Daily News, or buying a bottle of wine from Arrow Wine & Spirits.
Local businesses are not unified in their stance on whether to allow weapons inside their doors under Ohio's new concealed-carry law. The law allows qualified gun owners to carry concealed firearms.
Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.
In the past 30 days, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce received more than 150 phone calls from anxious business owners seeking advice on coping with the law.
"Businesses are calling about liability issues, insurance, whether they can be sued, should they allow employees to carry guns but prevent customers from carrying them, and so on," said Bryan Bucklew, the chamber's vice president of public policy.
"Ninety-eight percent of our phone calls have been questions asking how do we prevent guns on our property," he said.
Under the law, business owners must clearly post signs at entrances prohibiting guns, or they can communicate their policy to those entering the premises. Establishments such as churches and venues serving liquor, however, are not required to post signs since the law already protects them.
Michael Minns, manager of the Dayton Mall, on Tuesday made sure signs were visibly posted at entrances. Minns said the mall has always had an anti-gun stance, but recently updated the signs to prohibit even licensed gun carriers.
Glimcher Realty Trust, which owns the Dayton Mall and the Mall at Fairfield Commons, also increased the consequences of violating the no-guns policy.
Gun carriers will be reprimanded, lose shopping privileges and face possible prosecution, Minns said.
Dayton has posted notices on city-owned buildings prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons on the premises.
The city has not passed any additional restrictions, but is relying on a provision in the state law that bans concealed weapons from government buildings, according to Tom Biedenharn, Dayton's director of public affairs.
The reasoning among businesses for allowing guns is that customers will do what they want anyway.
"If they show their gun and it's visible where we can see it, then we can call the police," said John Zimmerman, spokesman for Meijer Inc. "We have no intentions to put up signs."
The law gives businesses legal immunity from liability. In most circumstances, if a customer shoots another customer, the store is not responsible.
But Bucklew said: "We're not really sure how the immunity clause operates until it is put into practice."
Commentary:
There are literally thousands upon thousands (upon thousands!) of businesses in Ohio, and only a small fraction of those will ever post discriminatory signs. Some that do, as we've seen with Frisch's, Discount Drug Mart, and Marc's, will take them down soon enough.
There are plenty of GOOD GUYS in the business world too, as highlighted in this recent Cincinnati Enquirer story:
"One workplace that is not going to post signs or notices banning weapons is Madisonville-based Cincinnati Motor Car, which specializes in repairing cars made by BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
"I think the law will reduce the crime rate," said John Brindle, 56, who owns Cincinnati Motor Car.
"Crimes of opportunity may be reduced. The perpetrators might have to think twice. There will be less crime when people have second thoughts."
On a personal note, Brindle said, he will feel safer walking his Alaskan Malamute, Misby, at night in his Hartwell neighborhood. He and his dog were attacked in 2001 by a loose pit bull named Sweet Pea, which he could have shot had he been allowed to carry a gun.
"You talk about feeling defenseless. It almost killed my dog - and I have a very big dog," he said. "I had my hands in the pit bull's mouth that night. That's not a very safe feeling."
Handguns at Cincinnati Motor Car are out of sight but commonplace, said Brindle's wife, Sharon, the company's office manager.
In fact, the Brindles worry about legalities if they decided to ban weapons from workers, customers or visitors.
"If a person had to leave his gun in a car and is harmed because of that, wouldn't he have a great lawsuit?" she said. "I'd think the shop owner would be wide open to litigation."
Relates Stories:
More businesses ban; more reverse course after feeling repercussions
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