Oh, the irony!

Doing my daily 5 minute scan of Huffington Post to see how to cook better burgers (actually I already knew all the secrets they are posting for the Yuppies) when I saw they a headline about a business that had chided Obama on workplace safety regulations and subsequently suffered an accident that harmed 8 workers. Of course, Huffington described Obama as being "chided" by them and the workplace accident as "horrifying" but then that is the Huffpost Hyperbole on full display. Oh, the drama!

But that really would not have stood out to me if not for another such ironic story that I am sure Huffington Post will not report. That is this one on the recent robbery at gun point at a restaurant in North Carolina.  What's ironic about that?  Well, this restaurant is well-known among both anti-gun and pro-gun people for its high profile prohibition of the carry of firearms within the establishment (encouraging that kind of thing is certainly the approach du jour for anti-gun groups).  The irony is that this was not just some run-of-the-mill restaurant owner, but someone who has gone out of their way to make a political statement.

Note the sign on the door:



While I have a long list of snarky shit I could say about it, I really can't say it better than this quote form the article of a resident who commented on the event:

"Reader F Paul Valone wrote in the ABC News 11 comments section: “The Pit BBQ was robbed at gunpoint? Wait, that’s not possible; The Pitt posted signs prohibiting guns. We all know that armed criminals will avoid places that prohibit guns, right? Since most will miss the irony, the Pitt BBQ’s other location in Raleigh was where national gun control advocates Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly held their meeting to have a “dialogue with gun owners”… to which no gun owners were invited.”

So anti-gun folks, here is an example of how well your logic works. Such signs keep law-abiding citizens from carrying in your establishment; you know, the people who are going to come in and spend their hard earned, legal gotten money to consume your product. They are kept from carrying into your establishment in one of two ways; either they leave their weapons at home or, the better choice, they simply go to another BBQ place that welcomes them and their cash without accusing them of being unwholesome or undesirable.  One can only hope that they choose the latter, since you think so little of them anyway.

On the other hand, it appears that those who would rob and assault others (but apparently have little interest in eating your product) also have few qualms about ignoring your sign.  Perhaps they hate BBQ (but who hates BBQ).  Perhaps they are "disadvantaged" and can't read.  I am sure it is someone else's fault that they are criminals, but at least they are fortunate enough to have you to offer them a safe place to make a living as best they can.  Of course, it says they came in the back door - so maybe they can read and that door was not posted ;<).

In case you haven't read NC law, when it comes to violations of such signs, it notes that; "A person who has been issued a valid permit who is found to be carrying a concealed handgun in violation of subdivision (c)(8) or subsection (c2) of G.S. 14-415.11 shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."

FYI, Subdivision (c)(8) is where it says that a private property owner can post signs prohibiting legal concealed carry by those who have a valid permit.  So, for those of us with at least half a brain, let's think on this.  I'm not going to bother researching the potential punishments for armed robbery and assault, but I suspect that, if one is willing to commit those felonies, then a Class 1 misdemeanor is not going to be an effective deterrent.

So much for magic signs.