Concealed guns now allowed in bars

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizonans with concealed weapons permits will be allowed to take a handgun into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol under a bill signed Monday by Gov. Jan Brewer.

The measure, backed by the National Rifle Association, will require bar and restaurant owners who want to ban weapons on the premises to post a no-guns sign next to their liquor license. It becomes effective Sept. 30.

Drinking while carrying a weapon would be illegal.

Before a compromise was reached late in the Legislature’s regular session, the measure pitted powerful groups representing gun and bar owners against each other.

Supporters said people should be able to protect themselves at businesses that serve alcohol and shouldn’t have to endure the risk of leaving their gun in a parked vehicle.

Todd Rathner, an NRA lobbyist, said he was pleased Brewer signed it after former Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a similar bill in 2005. Brewer, a Republican, became governor when Napolitano, a Democrat, resigned in January to become U.S. Homeland Security secretary.

“Any law that allows law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm in more places makes the community safer,” Rathner said.

Opponents have said mixing guns and alcohol produces a dangerous combination that could cause violence.

“Now there’s going to be a fear that you don’t know if the person next to you is carrying a concealed weapon or not,” said Sen. Ken Cheuvront, a Phoenix Democrat who owns a wine bar and restaurant downtown.

More than 127,000 Arizonans have concealed weapons permits and would be allowed to carry a gun into consenting bars and restaurants. Brewer’s signature makes Arizona the 41st state to allow guns in businesses that serve alcohol, according to the NRA.

The bill originally applied only to establishments with kitchens, but it was expanded to include bars. Another change was to move the location for posting a no-guns notice, which originally was to have been next to the main entrance. Some bar owners had worried about uncertainty over which entrance would be considered the main entrance.

A lobbyist for the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association, which opposed the original bill, said the amended version created clear, uniform and enforceable rules.

“It’s going to happen one way or another, and this was the best version we’ve seen,” ALBA lobbyist Don Isaacson said after the bill was revised last month.

It’s already legal to carry a gun into a store that sells alcohol for consumption elsewhere.

It would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500 to carry a gun into an establishment with a no-guns notice posted.

The law, however, includes a partial legal defense for a person carrying a concealed weapon within an establishment banning guns. It would apply if the sign had fallen down, the person wasn’t an Arizona resident or the notice was first posted less than a month earlier.

Brewer also signed a bill allowing gun-owners to display a firearm if they feel threatened and another allowing them to keep firearms in their locked vehicles while parked at businesses that ban weapons.

The measure allows businesses to ban guns if they provide a secured parking lot or if they provide a nearby secondary lot that allows them.