MONEY, GUNS, AND WHATABURGER 
“We’ve had many customers and employees tell us they’re uncomfortable being around someone with a visible firearm who is not a member of law enforcement, and as a business, we have to listen and value that feedback in the same way we value yours. We have a responsibility to make sure everyone who walks into our restaurants feels comfortable. For that reason, we don’t restrict licensed concealed carry but do ask customers not to open carry in our restaurants.” [Whataburger, via Houston Chronicle] Photo of Whataburger at 5436 Hwy. 6 North: Jessica T.
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Perfectly reasonable and certainly within their right. But this is the internet after all so…
When I came back from fighting in Europe after World War One, No one questioned me when I drove my M1917 Tank around town. That’s what the founding fathers intended. My right to bear arms, no matter the type can’t be infringed! I dont care what well regulated means!
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What.a.burger is nothing but a butch of liberal, sissy, left-leaning Burger terrorists.
I don’t care where I’m at… if someone comes in a place with a gun I’m leaving immediately without paying for anything (and will not return until the business prevents that from happening in the future). My family’s safety is more important than some nut job’s ego.
blasphemy, it’s like whataburger doesn’t even care how much harder it is to use a rifle to put ketchup on my fries compared to a glock.
Huh. I figured with those big “GOD” stickers on the windows they would welcome open carry.
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@Brian: Have you tried the new Sweet & Spicy Bacon Burger? It’s so damn tasty you might risk the lives of your loved ones.
What? They’re as chicken as their delicious Honey Mustard Whatachick’n® Club!
I’m all for open carry as a right, but I’m also 100% all for a business deciding they don’t want open carry in their establishment.
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I think “MOST” people that support the 2nd amendment also support a business right to decide what is right for THEIR business. If you want to open carry that badly while you eat a burger, then take it home with you or go to another shop.
I know the sight of a gun makes limp wristed liberals to hyperventilate, but honestly there’s no reason to open carry in the city, it’s just bad manners.
I always carry concealed and have a different gun for different outfits. Walther PPS 40 in the small of my back for tshirt days, and FN FiveSeven in a crossdraw for cold days requiring a jacket.
Is it really necessary to carry a gun into Whataburger or any related business??
I’m a proud firearm owner and CHL holder. I don’t plan to open carry. I am not concerned with the open carry of handguns, when in a shoulder or hip holster. But like Brian comments above, if somebody walks into a place with any kind of long gun, or a pistol in some stupid tacticool thigh/chest holster, I am out of there. What and how you carry is to me the absolute best barometer for your sanity. Well holstered in a normal and discrete manner tells me you are not AS interested in being noticed. AK on a three point harness and extra mags on your belt tells me you are out to be seen and to me anyone who wants you to notice them is not to be trusted (D. Trump!) and should be avoided.
The statement though “is not a member of law enforcement” is an interesting one. I regularly see non-uniformed law enforcers down in the tunnels (usually lunch time) where their firearm is far more visible than their badge. See above for how you carry saying a lot about you. At the end of the day I think people are fine with it if you seem legit.
funny, this was a conversation topic over dinner with friends last week while I was vacationing in Massachusetts. My hosts (New England natives who live in Boston) share my belief that there’s no logical reason for the typical resident of an urban area to walk around with a gun all day. They also share my general lack of worry about people who are licensed and have passed background checks doing just that. And, they share the opinion of vast numbers of Americans that open carry is something that marks somebody as a nutcase and they really don’t want to see people toting guns at the store, in a restaurant, at the airport.
They have relatively strict gun control laws there. They also have a homicide rate less than half that of Texas despite the level of urbanization in Massachusetts being pretty similar to Texas. I don’t think it’s the gun laws though – more likely the better social safety net and lower poverty rates. And of course the relentlessly practical nature of New Englanders.
I honestly cannot remember the last time I sat down and ate at any fast food place, I get it from the drive through and move on, hence the term “fast food” , and I get to have my firearm anywhere on my person while I do it!
“Brian
July 7, 2015 at 3:30 pm
I don’t care where I’m at… if someone comes in a place with a gun I’m leaving immediately without paying for anything”
Sounds like you are counting on the new law to get some free meals….
“Josh
July 7, 2015 at 4:29 pm
Is it really necessary to carry a gun into Whataburger or any related business??”
Just ask all the nice folks that have been robbed @ IHOP lately….
Commonsense……”limp wristed liberals”? Really????? Generally, that term of endearment refers to our gay bothers, not liberals! If you are going to consistently insult (because of course, from you it is totally cool to do so, and so in-your-face anti-PC), at least get the right group identification. In the old days (when the term “limp wristed” was so commonly used) people with common sense and in-the-know also used the proper term “bleeding heart liberals”, when trying to appropriately insult liberals as a group! Please use an appropriate term such as;
commie liberal,
“pinko” liberal,
“bleeding-heart” liberal,
“clueless” liberal,
“hippie” liberal,
Second Amendment Hater,
Left-wing radical, or
“tree-hugging” liberal
“Limp wristed” must be saved for one group only……
First, I really don’t care what anyone from Mass. thinks about Texas. Next, open carry will be the law. I conceal carry and will continue to do so, but I don’t have a problem with open carry. Also, anyone so scared of a firearm it causes them to leave a restaurant, just makes for quicker service for me. Maybe they will eventually leave Texas, which will help traffic. Finally, I love Whataburger no matter what.
I’m impressed with the patrons of this site to keep things polite regarding this particularly polarizing subject. Cheers to all!!!!
Let the rest of the net bicker. Again…… Cheers guys!
Oh OF COURSE commonsense has “a different gun for different outfits.”
I applaud Whataburger for making the choice to ban open carry on their property. I’ll happily make my next cheat meal a Whataburger combo.
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But, their policy just confirms my belief that they are true capitalists (an admirable thing). As others have said, those that will be parading their guns in public are not going to be viewed as the more sane members.
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Sane, responsible gun owners are very comfortable with concealed carry. In fact, I think it is logical to conceal carry (rather than open) since you’ll have one more weapon at your disposal: surprise.
Perfectly done by Mr. Atkinson.
I’ve been a supporter of gun rights for as long as I can remember, but I am also a supporter of property rights. Property rights take precedence over gun rights on property that isn’t yours, but the open carry dweebs don’t believe that. This should be interesting.
I am not too bothered by most open carry, but the next time I see someone carrying a rifle, slung on the front, and their hands are on the grip and fore end, I am calling the cops and complaining that the idiot is carrying in a manner calculated to alarm, the magic words for a disorderly conduct charge.
sjh,
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I hate to agree with commonsense on anything, but the first and foremost definition of the term ‘limp wristed’ means ‘weak’. The second, and less common definition of it is a derogatory way of referring to homosexual men.
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I’ve seen commonsense spew some stupid and idiotic things here, but I’ve never seen commonsense be derogatory and unkind, so I’m giving him the benefit of doubt and betting he meant it in the traditional, non derogatory manner, basically saying ‘liberals are weak’. There is no contextual way even when you don’t consider what commonsense has written outside of this specific post that you could interpret what he wrote to mean ‘homosexual liberals’. In fact, there’s no way contextually that anyone would, or should come to that conclusion.
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So, in summation, you’re petty and from reading what you wrote, you appear to be very uneducated. If I were you, I’d want to have that comment removed.
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But I suppose I’m victim blaming here, and anyone who says a word that has ever had the potential to be hurtful to a minority when used by someone of a majority is always in the wrong. Maybe it would help if we had a ministry of doublespeak to help us better understand what words are okay to use in a common setting.
@ Brian – leaving a restaurant without paying for your meal is stealing. It is a crime, and you deserve to be prosecuted for it. Your failure to pay means that your waiter was not compensated for no fault of his own, that the dishwasher, busboy, cooks, etc are all cheated out of their portion of the tip share. Grow up 99% of people walking into a place with a gun who wish to do you are harm are going to have the gun drawn, screaming give me your money.
On topic – I think most people agree that open carry is unnecessary…The majority of support from every day gun owners comes from the fear of being ticketed or detained b/c their concealed carry weapon was inadvertently exposed or the outline was visible…..Its HOT in Texas in case you have not noticed, and its not always easy to perfectly conceal your gun…thus the desire for open carry, so the outline of the weapon does not make an otherwise lawful concealed carry individual an outlaw.
To those who think carrying a gun is unnecessary, don’t carry. For the rest of us who care about our family safety far more, we will continue to carry, concealed, and are thankful that open carry now means that I can not be cited for an inadvertent display of the gun.
@toasty Youre 100 percent right. Commonsense has never been unkind to anyone, ever. That includes, Veggie -Terrorists, The poor, Liberals, people who vote democrat, Labor Unions, Homeless people, Mentally ill people, Inner-loopers, Bicyclists, people who commute to work in ways other than the car, people who walk anywhere in Houston, People who use parks, People who use green space, and finally, people.
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The comment history shows, all comments, have been kind to the aforementioned. Me on the other hand, once the Veggie Terrorists stop planting gardens, I’ll stop calling them Terrorists.
PC wussy-ness, right here in Texass!
Notcommonsense=stalker/troll.
A few years ago in the Clear Lake area a guy’s gun fell out of his jacket pocket and discharged. The woman who was hit suffered major internal damage. The guy had a CHL and claimed he “forgot” it was in his pocket. No charges were brought, because the CHL made him a “responsible” handgun owner in the eyes of the law.
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CHL gives a veneer of safety, but the guy who “forgot” his handgun was in his pocket was as irresponsible as the woman in a big box store whose child found the gun in her purse and shot and killed herself. Many of the weapons confiscated at airports are “responsible” gunowners who forgot they had their weapon on them, or in their luggage.
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In a way, at least the people who open carry allow you to avoid them if you want to. Personally, I would choose not to give my business to a place that allows open carry.
people that eat the garbage they serve at a whatburger aint worried about living long anyway. the open carry is just another hot button for those who have been programmed to react in a certain way.
Toasty, uneducated? Hardly. Tired of constant negative BS about “liberals”‘? Yes. Being a gay man, I probably know more about gay men than you ever will, and trust me, “limp wristed” back in the 1960s and 1970s was a derogatory statement applied to gay men, not liberals. Never did my post say anything about “homosexual liberals”. I know what they are like since I am one. My comment was intended to be sarcastic. Too bad you somehow misinterpreted that. And as for petty, wow! It didn’t even occur to me that things I may have learned from life experience would somehow be petty. Thanks for the feedback!
Let me clear up the debate, I meant it as a double insult, firstly I definitely meant Limp Wristed as a homosexual slur (It’s probably the most insult one can get away with on Swamplot after the Sherwood Forest troubles of a couple of years ago), secondly, Limp Wristing a gun is when you hold it like a dandy and may come back and hit you in the forehead.
Let’s be honest. The people here who claim they are cool with other people open-carrying around them will only be cool with those people if they look like them.
ha, well, commonsense, you are a boob, and sjh, I owe you an apology because commonsense is a boob, as for saying I don’t know as much about gay men, implying that I am not one, well, you shouldn’t presume to know, and I don’t really feel the need to tell, as it has little bearing on much of anything on an architecture blog. I am happy to have not even been alive, much less, understand sex, and sexual attraction back in the 60s, or 70s. (well, I was alive for some of the 70s, but certainly not caring about anything other than eating, and pooping).
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anyway, there it is, sorry.
@Bobby – it’s usually interesting to see how situations look from other viewpoints. I’m not saying it should change your mind, just that it might make a person think a bit to see how this stuff is viewed from people in other parts of the country that are culturally a bit different (but not as different as you think).
@commonsense – it says so much that you view calling people gay as a slur. It’s really funny that you do it while talking about having a different gun for every outfit. You can accessorize, gurl!
There are several different issues here.
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The first is open carry as policy. I don’t have a particular problem with it. Whether its legal or not, the people that take advantage of the new law will attract attention from both low enforcement and from would-be criminals. Its been perfectly legal to carry a rifle or shotgun as one is walking down the sidewalk for a very long time, but that doesn’t mean that Texas has ever had a problem with that; so I don’t expect that there will be a problem with handguns. The criminal element was never going to abide by CHL rules in the first place, and has no incentive to open carry because it attracts attention, so I don’t see an issue there.
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The second issue is that individuals that will actively engage in the open carry of firearms are stupid. They make themselves targets if something bad goes down. I don’t personally have a problem with that, as I won’t be openly carrying anything and as I won’t be a criminal. I’ll be the sort of person that flied under the radar. That’s a reason to celebrate this new policy.
The third issue is that its difficult to discern a particular reason that a business like Whataburger should restrict open carry in its restaurants. Its within its right to do so IMO, but that doesn’t make it good business policy. Its going to suffer a fair bit of negative press from this announcement that they could have avoided by simply not addressing the issue; and yet I have a difficult time figuring out how there would be negative press in the event of a shooting in a Whataburger restaurant carried out by somebody that was openly carrying a firearm such that that negative press would affect Whataburger sales.
My wife and I both have our CCW’s. The other day, after shopping at an ACE Hardware, we were headed to our car with our two youngest kids (8&7), when we passed a crackhead. I carry concealed usually while my wife open carries. My wife is usually with kids in tow and thus wants the visibility of her S&W .38spl to deter anyone wanting to cause her and our children harm. My concealed G26 had absolutely no effect on the crackhead because he couldn’t see it. His one glance at my wife’s hip turned him in the opposite direction, heading away from my kids. Enough said.