Reply #145: Incorrect [View All]

[HiDemGunOwner]

"You want to go on PRIVATE property, do so at YOUR risk."

As an "invitee" into a business establishment, you do not enter at your own risk. There are a myriad of safety issues the proprietor needs to address in order to avoid the liability associated with an unsafe condition that results in harm or injury to the invitee. If a business choses to create a "gun free zone" and in doing so disarms a citizen that could otherwise carry a concealed weapon, and that now disarmed citizen becomes the victim of violence while in that business/gun free zone, then the owner of the business should be held liable for any injuries/damages that results because the business caused the unsafe condition i.e., created a situation where someone wasn't able to defend themselves as they would have been able to do if not at that particular business.

The standard used for determining if the owner is liable for injuries incurred is that he/she "knew or should have known" of the hazard or condition that led to the injury/accident. I think it would be difficult for the business (restaurant/bar/mall) to argue that they didn't, or couldn't have know, that the possibility of an incidence of armed violence might happen. Especially if they armed them self or had any other protections (alarms, guards) in place. Once that threshold was established, the owner could indeed be could liable. It would certainly make for an interesting case.