Still, in a bar there is one major factor: alcohol. I've been in my share of bars, clubs, etc. (I've probably used up a good bt of other's shares
), and I've seen a goodly number of bar fights; participated in a few of them, too. Nothing will escalate the lack of common sense and sound judgement more than a liberal application of booze. I, for one, am very glad that, with the exception of a couple or so situations, there were no participants with firearms. And I've been in places where I
knew there were guys carrying (in a couple of cases they were people who I knew well) and even they were smart enough and well trained enough to limit when they carried and to not drink when they did. I've even been in cop bars where I'm pretty sure the majority of those guys were carrying
. But those guys were trained professionals and looked after each other to make sure nothing got out of hand. If you are talking about the average person carrying in a place like a bar or club, aside from the normal accidental shooting of an innocent in normal situations, consumption of alcohol has to be factored in to the equation. Then there is the question of liability: if a bar/club owner allows carrying and someone innocent gets shot in a non-active shooter situation, just maybe a dust-up between patrons, you can bet the bar/club owner is going to see a hefty lawsuit for allowing carry in his establishment. The risk is just to great...
There is history to back up a no carry policy. Even in the Old West, which is the era the open/concealed carry advocate tend to cite, when a city or town got civilized, the first places to ban carrying a gun, aside from the churches, were the bars and saloons. Leave/check-in your gun at the door was a very common policy in those places because they had common sense and knew better...
...and, as the towns and cities became even more civilized, the carrying of weapons was banned within the city limits, a practice and custom still followed to this day; again, just a case of common sense...
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