http://community.kdvr.com/_Restaurant-with-anti-gun-policy-saved-by-a-gun/BLOG/281845/96399.htmlOh, the irony.
The manager of an Atlanta restaurant, Taco Mac, stopped an armed robbery Sunday morning by firing his own gun at the armed robber. What makes this story ironic is that the CEO of the company that owns this particular Taco Mac was one of the people that strenuously fought against the passage of the Georgia law last year that made it legal to carry a firearm in this restaurant. The law also contained a provision overriding Taco Mac's policy of banning firearms from its employee parking lots.
In Georgia in 2008, it was illegal to carry or possess a firearm in a restaurant that serves alcohol. Taco Mac serves alcohol. The Georgia General Assembly changed the law when it passed HB 89, which contained a provision that repealed the gun ban in restaurants that serve alcohol so long as the patron is not consuming alcohol. HB 89 also contained a provision that the NRA aggressively pushed that prevented employers from banning employee guns from cars in the parking lot. Both provisions would come into play on Sunday morning.
Taco Mac's owner vociferously opposed the new law both before its passage and after, by posting "No Guns" signs at the entrance. As GeorgiaCarry.Org member Matthew P. put it in a press release on Sunday:
Tappan Street Restaurant Group, which operates most of the Taco Mac restaurants in the Atlanta area, was quick to ban the legal carry of firearms in their restaurants following the passage of HB89 (the "gun rights" bill) into law in July 2008. WSB reported today (Sunday) that, shortly after 3am, an armed gunman accosted an employee as he or she took out the trash and attempted to rob the Taco Mac in Virginia Highlands. The manager drew a handgun and exchanged fire with the gunman before he (the gunman) fled. No employees or customers were reported injured. Had the manager honored the "gun ban" in TSRG's Taco Mac restaurants, the outcome could have been much worse -- consider the fate of slain bartender John Henderson at the Standard (who complied with his assailant's instructions) in January 2009.
What remains to be seen is whether Bob Campbell, president of TSRG and member of the board of the Georgia Restaurant Association (who vigorously opposed the passage of HB89 and its subsequent signing into law) will revisit the flawed "no guns" policy in his restaurants. To do otherwise, and certainly to fire the brave manager who refused to be a victim, would reveal that his emotions surrounding the "guns" issue exceed both the bounds of common sense and of common decency.
It is probably wishful thinking to believe that Bob Campbell will reconsider his gun ban. Rationality and the experience of empirical observation rarely enter into the thought processes of a gun banner.
Let us consider the history. Taco Mac has not had an armed robbery in 30 years. Taco Mac posted the Georgia Restaurant Association signs banning firearms, which tells criminals that this is an easy target. Then it is robbed. So what is the conclusion to be drawn? That gun free zones encourage armed criminals to prey upon the disarmed people inside?
Bob Campbell is more likely to believe that the real problem is his failure to post a "No Guns" sign at the back door, where the armed robber entered.
The manager of this location possessed a Georgia Firearms License. This brought him within the ambit of the law protecting him from his employer for possessing a firearm in his car in the parking lot. The result of an armed Georgian with a firearms license was one wounded, bleeding criminal and no wounded employees.
A restaurant spokesperson said an employee was taking out the trash around 3:30 when a masked man approached him with a gun, forcing the worker back inside.
That's where the would-be robber learned the manager was armed, too. A spokesperson for the restaurant said the manager and the suspect fired at each other and that the masked man then ran to a waiting car bleeding. None of the four employees was hurt.
Taco Mac disingenuously claims in statement that "The safety and security of our customers and employees is of utmost importance." If Taco Mac really meant it, then they would take down the "No Guns" signs. Any restaurant in Atlanta that bans firearms cares nothing for the safety of its customers or employees and is leaving them at the mercy of any criminal with a gun.
In this day and age, it is not like they are unaware that criminals refuse to abide by "gun free" zones. Such zones simply encourage violent crime.
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