Print
Consumers will be able to identify gun-friendly businesses and avoid gun-free zones in their towns if a Virginia businessman gets his way.
Bryan Crosswhite has launched 2amendment.org, an online database of businesses that allows customers to carry guns. iPhone and Android apps are in the works.
Crosswhite has also created a gold and black sticker that says “2AO” to make it easy for consumers to identify gun-friendly businesses. He compares the sticker to those issued by the Zagat restaurant guide. The stickers would be placed in the business’s windows or doors so customers could identify them.
“We want to make it something for business owners who are pro-Second Amendment,” Crosswhite said of the stickers. “A sticker on the door, just like Zagat, and that way people who want to do business with pro-Second Amendment companies will automatically connect with those Second Amendment companies.”
Businesses that register with 2amendment.org will get to display the stickers, Crosswhite said. He did not say why he had created the site but in recent months a number of Virginia businesses have come under fire for trying to keep out those carrying guns.
Not Related to Toby Keith Controversy
The highest profile case involved Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill in Woodbridge, Virginia. The restaurant attracted attention and criticism by barring guns from the establishment. News stories indicate that the decision was made by the franchise owner and not Keith.
Virginia state law allows business owners to bar guns from their premises. The state also has a law that allows persons with a concealed carry permit to bring a concealed weapon into an establishment that serves alcohol as long as they do not drink, The Washington Times reported.
How to hide your guns, and other off grid caches…
Crosswhite did not say whether the Toby Keith incident had inspired him to launch his website in a recent Times interview. He simply mentioned his support for the Second Amendment.
Virginia gun owners were upset with the Bar & Grill because Toby Keith has publicly supported the Second Amendment in the past.
He practices what he preaches
Crosswhite’s own restaurant, the Cajun Experience in Leesburg, Virginia, hosts an Open Carry Wednesday event each week.
The purpose of 2amendment.org is clearly laid out at the website. It states:
“The organization puts people together with likeminded business owner(s).”
It isn’t clear how many businesses have registered with 2amendment.org. One business that has signed up is Modern American Shooting & Firearms, a pistol training company.
“I’m an advocate of every law-abiding American citizen learning how to defend themselves with a firearm and carrying a firearm on a daily basis,” Baraka James, the owner of Modern American, told The Times. “I want to know the businesses they go to will welcome them.”
Businesses that have expressed interest in the 2AO 2014 stickers include insurance agencies and coffee shops, Crosswhite said.
It isn’t clear if this will become a grassroots movement, but it could. Popular frustration with gun control efforts is leading to a greater awareness of Second Amendment issues and the stands people take on them.
Sign up for Off The Grid News’ weekly email and stay informed about the issues important to you
