Reply #193: Liability [View All]

[ac2007]

The issue is if a restaurant owner explicitly states "No firearms" on their property, they are making a tacit acknowledgment of your right to have a gun and in turn, summarily denying your right to protect yourself. As a result, they are accepting liability for your safety on their property. Should a criminal come onto that property and shoot you while disarmed, should the property owner be held liable for your injuries since they knowingly forced you to disarm when you could demonstrate an ability to defend yourself otherwise?

States are beginning to look at this as a change in the law. No one is forcing a gun owner to patronize a place but at the same time, if the property owner feels their rights trump yours, should they not be responsible for the harm that comes as a result?

Nothing in the bill would have forced restaurant owners to allow guns where they didn't want them. Virginia law would not change that. If the owner posted a sign saying "No guns" and you carried one onto the property, you are breaking the law. It is a crime to do in VA, carried openly or concealed.