Article about which restaurants plan to post in Oak Ridge

[Guest bkelm18]

5 local restaurants prohibit guns or likely to - Oak Ridge, TN - The Oak Ridger

OAK RIDGE —

Five of 11 Oak Ridge restaurants surveyed this week said they either will prohibit guns in their businesses or are leaning toward doing so under a new state law that went into effect July 14.

Conversely, two restaurants said they will allow permit holders to carry weapons.

Meanwhile, representatives at four other establishments said they have either not yet made a decision or not announced one.

The new Tennessee law allows permit holders to carry weapons into restaurants that serve alcohol as long as the person carrying the gun doesn't drink. Restaurant owners can reportedly "opt out" of the legislation by posting signs announcing a ban on weapons in their establishments.

The local restaurants prohibiting guns or intending to prohibit them are Flatwater Grill, Outback Steakhouse and Magnolia Tree Restaurant.

"My biggest feat is that it will make customers uncomfortable," said Dean Russell, Flatwater Grill co-owner.

Moondollars Cafe and Bistro hasn't made a decision, but co-owner and manager Chris Ayers said he is leaning toward prohibiting weapons. They make him and his customers nervous, he said.

La Cascada, formerly El Arriero Mexican Restaurant, is also likely to prohibit guns, said Kristen Bentley, the restaurant's attorney.

Of the restaurants surveyed by The Oak Ridger, the two that will allow permit holders to carry weapons are Ruby Tuesday and Red Lobster.

Ruby Tuesday overwhelmingly serves food, as opposed to alcohol, and has never prohibited permit holders from carrying firearms, spokesman Richard Johnson said.

"We've made no changes as a result of the legislation," he said.

Representatives of some restaurants that plan to prohibit weapons say they are not necessarily anti-gun.

Russell pointed out that he and his wife, Lynn Randolph, who is also a Flatwater Grill co-owner, are both permit holders.

Yet another reason not to eat at the Flatwater Grill. Nice river views but terrible food and arrogant owners who care nothing about their own rights.