Gun groups question restaurant gun-bill compromise

Two gun-rights groups have their sights trained on an amended House bill that lets handgun-carry permit holders go armed in restaurants selling alcohol but bans their weapons from establishments that derive less than 50 percent of their gross sales from food.

“We will not go along with it,” said John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, whose organization is urging members to call lawmakers about the bill. “Our thinking is these 50 percent rules that have been tried over the past 15 to 20 years have always failed.”

National Rifle Association spokeswoman Rachel Parsons said that, while NRA legal and legislative staffers haven’t completed their review of the amended bill, “on the surface of this amendment, it looks like a nonstarter for the NRA.”

The measure is intended as a compromise that would keep guns out of bars, nightclubs and honky-tonks while still allowing permit holders to bring their weapons into restaurants selling alcohol if restaurant owners so choose.-[source]