Guns and Alcohol

The Brady Folks seem to think we don’t agree that the two should not mix, and use an example of why Virginia was wrong to change its law about restaurant carry. But let’s review the facts. He would have been breaking the law under the old law in Virginia. He also is breaking the law under the new law, which does not allowed permit holders to drink if they are carrying a firearm. He will be facing the possibility of charges, roughly the same charges as under the old law.

So can someone on the other side explain to me what exactly has changed? I’m going to throw out this wild idea out there that this guy probably would have done this whether or not the law had changed or not.

Related posts (automatically generated):

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4 thoughts on “Guns and Alcohol”

  1. Under the old law, he could have been cited if someone had noticed that he had a gun. He didn’t have to drink or do anything else to get cited. Under the new law, someone has to know he is drinking alcohol AND that he has a gun before he can be cited.

  2. I can count on no fingers the number of times I’ve been spotted wearing a concealed pistol. No one is going to know he has a gun unless he tells them, or he’s open carrying. If he’s open carrying, the law is different.

  3. Ironically, if he had carried the gun openly, he would have been legal as long as he was not “intoxicated” (and probably even if he was – I can’t find any statute specifically prohibiting open carry while intoxicated, but I might be missing it). It’s only drinking while carrying concealed that’s illegal. Open carry in a restaurant that serves alcohol was legal under the old law and is legal under the new law, and doesn’t have that restriction against actually drinking while carrying.

  4. I recently obtained my VA Non-res CHP and know that you can in deed carry concealed in an establishment that serves alcohol, provided you are NOT consuming alcohol. It is a class B or C misdemeanor and an automatic forfeiture of the permit (which is what the big part of the punishment really is).

    Of course, there is a nice little rule exemption for local LEOs and Federal officers. Go figure, I guess they are better at not shooting people while off duty or drinking?

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