Writing a letter CAN make a difference!

[Guest RichieRich]

Do you know of any readily available statistics on HCP and our unique quirks? I would enjoy seeing how we are economically stereotyped

Surveys in the medical and economics literature suggest that higher income households are more likely to have firearms than lower income households.

How Many Guns Are There and Who Owns Them? - Characteristics Of Gun Owners - Ownership, Children, People, National, School, and Married

The US gun stock: results from the 2004 national firearms survey -- Hepburn et al. 13 (1): 15 -- Injury Prevention

[Guest archerdr1]

Earthfare, Really? The one in CHattanooga is not posted... at least I didn't see a sign. I go in there all of the time. Nobody has said anything to me yet.

[Guest friesepferd]

Earthfare, Really? The one in CHattanooga is not posted... at least I didn't see a sign. I go in there all of the time. Nobody has said anything to me yet.

yea, it looks like it is store by store. so please email my store and tell them to take it down!

[Guest friesepferd]

and where did 2% come from.

From what I can tell from the TN gov website, TN is at around 4.9%. (307,816 permit holders, 6,296,254 population)

My county is 5.2%.

That might be something worth adding in letters.

5% of your business auto gone, + a loss due to those people not advertizing for you, etc

data is found here: http://www.tn.gov/safety/stats/DL_Handgun/handgun.html

in the 2010 one, total permit holder numbers are in the appendix near the end.

Edited April 14, 2011 by friesepferd

[Oh Shoot]

and where did 2% come from.

From what I can tell from the TN gov website, TN is at around 4.9%. (307,816 permit holders, 6,296,254 population)

My county is 5.2%.

That might be something worth adding in letters.

5% of your business auto gone, + a loss due to those people not advertizing for you, etc

data is found here: Statistics and Research: Handgun Data

in the 2010 one, total permit holder numbers are in the appendix near the end.

Fun with statistics.

Remember that to make a 5% loss in any given eatery you'd have to assume that locally (and/or state-wide for chains) that HCP holders are actually already responsible for 5% of the eatery's total income. Which would mean that they (and their non-HCP family and friends who wouldn't eat there if they didn't) eat there at least once every day or so, but probably MORE than once per day. No way to really measure that precisely, that's for sure.

And of course also that all, or even most, HCP holders even give a crap. I'd say that only about 5-10% of the total HCP population is as "active" as the folks on TGO -- and I'm not sure that even 10% of TGOers are that involved. So you've got that (not) going for ya.

All that said, though, it's also obvious that a small % of eateries will see the logic of not posting from a well written missive, or perhaps even believe that the loss of business would be significant. Of course, these are generally independent places that aren't subject to larger corporate decision on the matter.

- OS

[Guest friesepferd]

well ya, obviously thats making the assumption that the distribution of people eating at that establishment is similar to the distribution of people in TN in this regard. it may be higher, it may me lower.

and yea, of course not 100% of hcp holders choose to not eat somewhere just because its posted.

i doubt putting a sign up is actually a huge loss of business for them, but it is some.

[gregintenn]

Well done, and thank you for representing us gun owners in a positive manner. Those of us who can should reward this restuarant with our patronage the next time a chimichanga craving strikes.

[JayC]

Do you know of any readily available statistics on HCP and our unique quirks? I would enjoy seeing how we are economically stereotyped

If you look at the zip codes (down to the 9 digit format xxxxx-xxxx) you'll notice that HCP permit holders tend to live in neighborhoods with higher incomes. While not a direct stats, it's easy to infer that people have higher incomes because they tend to live in higher income areas.

Also, it makes sense from a logic stand point, if you're working a $8 an hour job it's pretty hard to save up $200 to get a permit (average cost of the class and permit fee)... let alone another $300-700 for a pistol and ammo. Because the state is adding a 40%-20% tax on the process, it restricts the ability of people with lower incomes from being able to purchase the ability to carry a pistol legally.

[RandyC]

Very well done. We all thank you for carrying our water on this one.

Also, I would strongly encourage all to visit the Gun Owners of America website for an easy way of sending your senators and reps well written letters regarding legislative issues. You don't have to be a member to use their system.

Thanks for reminding us that just one letter can make a difference.

[Deerbnb]

Bravo'

[BlackHawk93]

If those naysayers were to think about it, you might respond that if 2% wrote letters, and 98% do nothing... those in the minority can easily enact change, because the 98% won't write, and they won't respond to a change if there is one. (if they even notice!)

well said.. next time I'll definitely play it that way +10

Trust me, any business person who understands the stats doesn't want to possible chase off 2% of their business... And when you factor in that most restaurants aim for the 21+ crowd (by serving drinks) and extra income crowd (people who can eat out a lot), the number goes way above 2% of their target market.

On average, HCP holders have a higher average income than the rest of the population, and are all over the age of 21 Figure the number is closer to 7-10% of adults in that age and income bracket.

another good piece of advice. thanks

[Guest aaron a]

I have written a letter to a gun store here in Johnson City. I will be giving it to the owner sometime this week and will let everyone know how it turns out.

[Guest friesepferd]

I have written a letter to a gun store here in Johnson City. I will be giving it to the owner sometime this week and will let everyone know how it turns out.

really? which gun store n JC doesnt let you carry?

[Guest aaron a]

Mahoney's. Even though its not posted properly

[Guest friesepferd]

ah okay.

i tend to not care too much about places not posted properly, but they really should know that.

heck maybe they do. maybe they on purpose put something up to make the hippies happy, while not actually hurting those who carry *shrug*

but yea, i would certainly still write them a letter and ask why the heck they have that.

[Guest aaron a]

Got a call from Mahoneys today and they told me HCP could carry in as long as the gun was not going to be handled. And he was going to be removing the posting.

[Erik88]

excellent!!

[Guest GradStudent]

I sent a modified version of the OP's letter to Monterrey's Mexican Restaurant in Knoxville, and they have since removed their posting.

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/carry-prohibited-locations/56142-monterrey-mexican-restaurant-105-cedar-ln-merchants-i75-knoxville-tn.html

[Guest friesepferd]

wow. great news. I wish I had heard back from the people I emailed.

Anybody else contacted EarthFare in JC yet?

[Guest aaron a]

I have not but I don't shop there.. if you would like a copy of the letter I gave Mahoneys I could get it to you to give to earth fare. Will send you a PM with my contact info.

[knoxrocks222]

that letter should be made a sticky, its very well written just copy and paste it with permission of the op and just change the name of the restaraunt

very nicely written sir

knox c.

[jumprun13k]

Nice letter! I had one I had typed up but I think this one is a bit better. It does have one little typo that needs fixing. In the first paragraph it says that their restaurant has decided to "bun guns"

Might want to give it a quick update and fix that.

[Guest kirkosaurus]

Nice letter! I had one I had typed up but I think this one is a bit better. It does have one little typo that needs fixing. In the first paragraph it says that their restaurant has decided to "bun guns"

Might want to give it a quick update and fix that.

hehe. Thanks for pointing that out. I've corrected it in the Google doc.

[chances R]

Way to go. Great letter. If you don't care I may borrow a few lines.