Do Guns And Restaurants Mix? Panera Joins Other Restaurants Who Would Rather You Not Bring Your Weapon Into Their Establishment. Bad Idea?

PANERA BREAD: KEEP YOUR GUNS AT HOME

'The request is simply we recognize everyone's rights'

Published: 17 hours ago

 JOE KOVACS About | Email | Archive

 Subscribe to feed

• 
• Text smaller
• Text bigger

     598

Panera Bread, the popular casual restaurant, has pulled the trigger on a new policy concerning guns, asking customers to leave their weapons at home, but it stopped short of an outright ban.

“The request is simply we recognize everyone’s rights,” said Panera CEO Ron Shaich told CNBC. “But we also recognize that we are building communities in our cafés and are where people come to catch a breath.”

“We’re simply respectfully requesting that people leave their guns at home,” he added. “It’s that simple.”

Panera says it plans to continue adhering to state and local laws regarding firearms. It also won’t ask employees to enforce the new request or place signs about it in its restaurants.

“We’re certainly not going to put our associates in the position of confronting someone carrying a gun,” Shaich said. “We won’t put our café management in the position of being law enforcement.”

Panera’s decision comes on the heels of similar efforts in the last year by Starbucks, Target, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Sonic and Jack in the Box, whose approach looks to avoid offending anyone on either side of the gun-rights debate in America.

“I think this industry has attempted to figure out how it stands out of ‘make a point’ political battles by advocates on either extreme,” Shaich said. “I think what we feel is we’re trying to be respectful of people’s rights while at the same time ensuring that Panera isn’t the battleground for political statement.”

Regarding potential alienation of patrons, Shaich said Panera’s customers hold a wide variety of opinions.

“I think at its core people get the request to make this an everyday oasis and not make this a battleground for political opinion,” he added.

When Fortune magazine contacted the company, a spokeswoman declined to say why Panera didn’t simply ban firearms completely.

Meanwhile, one anti-gun group is cheering the decision.

“We are thrilled that after months of discussions between Panera and Moms Demand Action, Panera is taking a proactive position in favor of our families’ safety by putting a new gun policy in place,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

“Moms are the consumers-in-chief of our households and we will reward companies that take a stand for our families’ safety. We urge other national companies follow suit.”

In June, WND reported how Jack in the Box restaurants became the victim of numerous armed robberies in the wake of its own leave-your-guns-at-home policy.

The incidents began shortly after Moms Demand Action put pressure on the company to ban guns.

Jack in the Box announced the new policy with an explanation:

“Creating a warm and inviting environment for all of our guests and employees is a top priority for Jack in the Box. The presence of guns inside a restaurant could create an uncomfortable situation for our guests and employees and lead to unintended consequences. While we respect the rights of all our guests, we would prefer that guests not bring their guns inside our restaurants.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/famous-restaurant-keep-your-guns-at-home/#xL0Ibp5kULiVb1q3.99