Since Timmy Kaine vetoed legislation that would have allowed gun owners with concealed handgun permits to carry in restaurants licensed to serve alcohol provided they don’t drink themselves, those of us who carry must carry openly in such establishments (unless of course we’re members of the privileged caste, such as Commonwealth Attorneys).

Interestingly, during the Virginia Senate debate on the bill to allow concealed carry in restaurants, Dick Saslaw claimed:

In most urban areas, you walk into a restaurant with a gun on your hip, they’re going to tell you to get out…You’re not going to get any meal or any drink.

The Post article also noted:

Saslaw said in an interview that he and his wife dine out “all the time” and that they have never seen anyone in a restaurant in his district with a gun.

Of course, that’s because most people don’t even notice. I open carry around NoVA from time to time, and in most cases people are not paying enough attention to even notice the gun on my belt. But in Saslaw’s mind apparently his own ignorance conceptions of gun ownership are a suitable substitute for the facts.

In protest of Saslaw’s yawning ignorance, VCDL have organized some open-carry lunches in Saslaw’s district. I participated in one today. VCDL are keeping the details quiet until the campaign is over, so I won’t say where we were, but I will relate the experience.

Rebecca and I both OC’d to a nice little restaurant in Fairfax county. I had my trusty Glock 19 in a Comp-Tac strong-side OWB belt holster, and Rebecca borrowed my S&W M&P 9, carried in a Fobus strong-side OWB paddle holster. As is typical of my open carry outings, this one was mostly uneventful. As we were leaving the owner/manager came over and asked us about the blatant visibility of our weapons; we educated him on Virginia’s ridiculous law and corrected some misconceptions he had about gun laws in Maryland and DC. There was no hostility, no bouncers escorting us to the door, no terrorized patrons begging for their lives from beneath the tables; it was a non-event.

I suppose I could be making this all up, so here’s the photographic evidence:

Molon Labe, Saslaw.