Colorado Restaurant 'Shooters" Goes Open Carry

 

Every morning, Lauren Bobert starts the day by getting ready for work. She puts on her make-up, fixes her near-perfect hair, and puts on a sparkly belt.

But the 27-year-old mother of four isn’t fully dressed until she straps on her loaded 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.

Bobert and her husband run a restaurant called the Shooters Grill. When they opened it a year ago in their hometown of Rifle, Colorado, going with a “gun theme” seemed natural. But Bobert took it one step further and began carrying a loaded weapon on her hip in public.

“I wanted to start carrying just for my protection. This is my establishment, so I didn’t see anything wrong with that,” she said. “[So] I began to open carry.”

It’s legal in Colorado to open carry handguns and Bobert isn’t the only one packing heat inside her restaurant. Most of the restaurant’s wait staff also open carry. The restaurant is so popular, Bobert said they sometimes sell out of food. She denies the armed staff is a gimmick for Shooters Grill, saying it’s about expressing their right to defend themselves.

"My firearms have nothing to do with the amazing hamburgers we cook," Bobert said. "Actually, the food that we cook is what started all this."

What’s happening at Shooters Grill is an offshoot of a controversial movement that started in Texas. A group of gun-carrying activists that calls itself “Open Carry Texas” brazenly flex their legal right to bear arms by carrying around assault rifles in public. The group’s mission is to raise awareness of existing gun rights and to expand those rights. Texas law says it is legal to openly carry so-called “long guns” like assault rifles, but the open carry of handguns is prohibited. Open Carry Texas’ enthusiasm for packing heat in public has led national chains including Chipotle, Chili’s and Jack in the Box to post signs asking customers to leave firearms at home.