Today in Great Ideas

New York Times: More States Allowing Guns in Bars.

[Tennessee's 300,000 handgun permit holders] have recently seen their rights greatly expanded by a new law — one of the nation's first — that allows them to carry loaded firearms into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

...Tennessee is one of four states, along with Arizona, Georgia and Virginia, that recently enacted laws explicitly allowing loaded guns in bars. (Eighteen other states allow weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol.) The new measures in Tennessee and the three other states come after two landmark Supreme Court rulings that citizens have an individual right — not just in connection with a well-regulated militia — to keep a loaded handgun for home defense.

Experts say these laws represent the latest wave in the country's gun debate, as the gun lobby seeks, state by state, to expand the realm of guns in everyday life.

I'm sure nothing bad can come from "expanding the realm of guns in everyday life." That sounds perfectly safe.

An anonymous waiter challenged the law, on the (quite reasonable) claim that "allowing guns into a tavern creates an unsafe work environment for servers." The Tennessee Division of Occupational Safety and Health denied his complaint.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, says that this erosion of restrictions is emboldening gun rights advocates: "The attitude from the gun lobby is that they should be able to take their guns wherever they want. In the last year, they're starting to move toward needing no permit at all."

Swell.

You know, I've never been afraid of being shot by a criminal, but I am scared as hell of being shot accidentally by some pants-shitting nincompoop who's been given the right to carry a concealed loaded weapon, and starts firing at the first sign of "danger." Yeesh.