"RICHMOND -- A House committee advanced legislation Friday that would allow people to carry concealed weapons into some restaurants that serve alcohol.

Del. Lee Ware's bill would only make concealed weapons legal in establishments where alcohol sales do not total more than 30 percent of sales. In effect, the bill would rule out most bar and chain restaurants that also do a bustling bar business.

Ware, a Republican from Powhatan, said current law prohibits the approximately 100,000 licensed concealed weapon owners in the state from bringing their weapons into any bar or restaurant that serves alcohol.

"These are very discrete and extraordinarily well-behaved people," Ware said. " I think [the legislation] creates greater safety, on balance."

The bill is opposed by two diverse groups - gun owners who want an outright repeal of the state's ban on concealed weapons in restaurants and restaurant owners who say guns and alcohol don't mix at all.
Mike McHugh, president of the Virginia Gun Owners Coalition, accused lawmakers of playing political games in an effort to appease gun owners and said the law would be convoluted and difficult to enforce.

"If this bill passes, we will spend the next five years listening to, 'We already fixed that in 2003 and we don't want to reopen such an emotional and divisive public issue,'" he said. "Then we will spend another 10 years trying to fix this bill."

McHugh argued that the 30 percent cutoff is murky and many restaurants fudge alcohol sales as it is to retain their liquor licenses. He said gun owners, too, would have trouble knowing where their weapons were actually allowed, although the law requires restaurants to post a. sign if they fall under the law.

"It expects gun owners to be mind readers," McHugh said.

Tom Lisk, a spokesman for the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association, said there are about 9,000 restaurants in the state where alcohol is served and concealed weapons are not allowed.

If the bill passes, he said, it would permit weapons in about 6,500 of those restaurants, according to statistics from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control.

"This is the proverbial camel's nose under the tent," Lisk said. "It's just the first step of being able to go into any bar or restaurant with a gun."

Lisk also noted that Virginia law prohibits a person from carrying a concealed weapon with a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08, which he said starkly contrasts with the new legislation.

"This bill means you could be in a bar drinking up to that legal limit and still be carrying a firearm," he said. "That person would be impaired, even if he was not intoxicated."

The bill passed out of the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee on a 15-7 vote. Lisk said the vote on the House floor and in the Senate could be a tossup." (Associated Press, The Daily Progress, February 1, 2003).