Arizona has a lot of gun lovers. Almost anyone in the state over 21 will be able to carry a concealed weapon without a permit starting June 29th, but some pro-gun advocates are already visiting local businesses with their weapons in plain sight in an attempt to make the practice more socially acceptable. Arizona lets businesses ban guns at their discretion, so this weekend the Arizona Star looked at how restaurants and bars are deciding who to piss off more: gun carriers or the people who feel uncomfortable around them.

Pro-gun arguments have worked with some Tucson restaurant owners. The Hungry Fox, a bustling diner at 4637 E. Broadway, put up a sign prohibiting guns last year but quickly heard protests from customers who, unknown to the restaurant’s owners and employees, were concealed-weapon carriers. The restaurant’s management quickly reversed the policy.

“We were going to lose a lot of customers, and we can’t afford to lose even one,” said Dene Little, the restaurant’s manager.

There’s even a website, www.gunburger.com, where pro-gun consumers can check out a restaurant’s policy before deciding to visit.

One customer of an Italian restaurant where some of the advocates recently ate told the paper, “I found it was pretty hard to have fun and joke in a room where there’s a large group of people who are heavily armed.”

“Eateries wrestling with AZ gun laws” [Arizona Star]

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