Restaurant Apologizes After Foolish Decision to Kick Out Officer for Having Firearm

Ferlon Webster Jr. | July 30, 2019
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As an off-duty San Antonio police officer attended a birthday dinner with his family at the steakhouse chain Fogo De Chao in Texas on Saturday, an anti-gun employee thought it was a good idea to ask him to leave because he was carrying a firearm.

In a Facebook post the details are outlined:

“He [the officer] was dressed in his soft uniform displaying his badge and carrying his duty weapon,” Randy Harrison posted via Jason Chandler. “After about 30 minutes he was approached by the Manager and asked to leave.”

According to the post, the manager claimed it was “corporate policy” that disallowed guns on their premises. When the SAPD officer asked if the same rule would be applied if he were in full uniform, the manager responded “yes” and asked him to leave again. The sergeant complied.

The incident was witnessed by many patrons in the restaurant and they immediately took to the restaurant’s Facebook page to express their disgust with how the situation was handled.

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The big problem with this debacle is that Texas law allows peace officers to carry their weapons with them in public establishments (regardless if they’re on-duty or off), such as, hotels, sports venues, and restaurants.

As KSAT-TV reports:

According to Texas law: An establishment serving the public may not prohibit or otherwise restrict a peace officer or special investigator from carrying on the establishment’s premises a weapon that the peace officer or special investigator is otherwise authorized to carry, regardless of whether the peace officer or special investigator is engaged in the actual discharge of the officer’s or investigator’s duties while carrying the weapon.

After the restaurant realized their employee made a dumb decision — and that they might lose business from customers — they issued an apology statement on Monday:

“We made a mistake by asking him to leave and sincerely apologize to the officer and to the San Antonio Police Department for this unfortunate lapse in judgment. We are working hard to address and correct the matter, and that includes us apologizing directly to the officer and training our team members on the laws in relation to firearms on business premises. We support, respect and appreciate everything our law enforcement does to keep us safe, every day.

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