Gun-free dining in Tennesee

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13. I have no problem with whatever requirements you choose to impose on your customers. ...

It is your business and your right. I would not bring my firearm into your business if I noticed the "no gun" sign. I would just go elsewhere.

If you are in an area where handgun ownership is uncommon and guns are frowned on, you might well profit from a no-guns policy. Be aware that the "no-guns" sign on your door might attract a violent criminal who would avoid a place that allowed firearms. That is something that I hope never happens in your establishment. There does appear to be some evidence that no gun zones attract people with evil intentions.

I live in Florida where firearms and people with concealed carry permits are almost as common as palm trees. Violent gun crime in Florida is now at an all time low.

Florida firearm violence hits record low; concealed gun permits up
Debate continues over relationship between guns and crime

By JACOB CARPENTER
Posted January 6, 2013 at 5:15 a.m.

In the so-called Gunshine State, home to the most gun permits in the country, firearm violence has fallen to the lowest point on record.

As state and national legislators consider gun control laws in the wake of last month's Connecticut school shooting, Florida finds itself in a gun violence depression. The Firearm-involved violent crime rate has dropped 33 percent between 2007 and 2011, while the number of issued concealed weapons permits rose nearly 90 percent during that time, state records show.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/jan/06/fla-firearm-violence-hits-record-low/

I am not saying that more guns and carry permits equals less crime, but if more guns and permits did directly increase crime it would be logical that gun crime in Florida would have shown an increase not a dramatic decrease.

I feel that you believe that I am paranoid, but I will suggest that perhaps you are in fact suffering from excessive paranoia. The overwhelming majority of people who legally carry a concealed firearm are no more terrorists or criminals than you and the unarmed patrons in your restaurant are. Nor are we cop wannabes or vigilantes like George Zimmerman. If I see something very unusual happening in my neighborhood I will call the cops and follow any and all instructions to the letter. I lack the desire, the training and the authority to play a crime fighting superhero and I know it.

On the other hand you have good reason to fear those who illegally carry a firearm. All too often they have a long record of criminal violence and often are quite willing to shoot their victims sometime for the sheer fun of it.

Statistics rarely reported by the media show that those who have carry permits are the cream of the crop of gun owners and rarely misuse our firearms or endanger others. I provided links to statistical data from Texas and Florida in post #11 above to support this point.

I found that I have become a much more polite and non aggressive individual since I fist obtained a carry permit over 15 years ago. I am far more willing to walk away from an argument that might lead to violence even if it makes me looks like a coward to an observer. I used to give another driver who cut me off, the finger. No longer. I just smile and wave at him. I've talked to a good number of people here in Florida almost all had noticed the same thing.