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Sonic asks customers not to bring guns to its dining areas

By Brianna Bailey
PUBLISHED: MAY 31, 2014

Sonic Corp. is asking customers to refrain from bringing guns to its indoor restaurants and patio dining areas at Sonic Drive-Ins. The company had been under pressure to revise its firearms policies from the gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Patrick Lennow, a spokesman for Oklahoma City-based Sonic, said the company has not changed its gun policy because it previously had no policy, instead relying on local laws.

�Sonic and our franchise owners work hard to provide an inviting environment for customers and employees alike. While we historically have relied upon local laws to guide how we address the display of guns at drive-ins, recent actions required we carefully reconsider this approach,� the company said in a statement. �We've considered the views and desires of our customers and employees that staff the drive-ins across the country.�

Most Sonic locations are drive-ins, where customers order in their cars, further complicating the gun issue. There are about 3,500 Sonic Drive-In franchise and corporate locations throughout 44 states. Sonic has about 270 locations in Oklahoma, which legalized the open carry of firearms in 2012.

�With respect to the storage of guns in vehicles, we ask that our customers continue to honor local laws,� Sonic said in its statement.

The group Moms Demand Action has asked several restaurant chains to ban guns in their dining areas after members of the Texas gun rights group Open Carry Texas began posting videos on YouTube of members carrying rifles and other firearms into restaurants in San Antonio. One video, which since has been deleted, showed a group of men carrying rifles to a Sonic patio dining area in Texas. A Sonic employee asked the men to leave the restaurant.

�We are heartened that we can take our children to these family-oriented restaurants and not worry about being confronted by customers with semiautomatic rifles,� Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said in a statement Friday in response to the new Sonic policy on guns.

The restaurant chain Chili's also moved to revise its gun policy on Friday in response to a petition from the group Moms Demand Action. The restaurant chain Chipotle banned guns at its restaurants last week after pressure from the group.

Bunch of dumbazzes carrying guns around like that --low IQ bunch for sure.

+1.

When I "bring a gun" to a public place, I am packing discreetly. Open carry, when abused in such a really stupid way turns the tide of public appearance against us. CAN do and SHOULD do are, in many cases, very different things.

I do not understand this open carry nonsense. I have a concealed carry permit and I do not want anyone to know that I am carrying. I feel that open carry does nothing to help our cause with the non-gun owning public.

tom

Did you have to ask for permission to conceal carry?

Ok, now is Sonic going to go all out, explain its position, and ask all criminals to not bring their weapons into the dining areas - in a nice tone, of course? That policy should work, eh?

I personally don't think open carry in public businesses help the Gun Owners in the long run. If i was going to rob a place the first person i would take out would be the ones who were carrying in the open . Why set yourself up as a target . If you are going to carry then conceal the weapon . Open carry in the woods and fields is a whole different ball game .

They wanna go "gun free zone"? Then its just a matter of time before they become a defenseless victim zone, i.e., a killing zone.

It's their private property, so they can ask folks to leave for any reason they like. What they don't know won't harm them, though.

These old boys are just trying to get open carry passed as law in Texas. Currently it's legal to carry rifles and BP pistols. That's what they are doing. Of course it scares people in dallas/Fort Worth area. The state office of this group has asked them to stop from the damage they are doing in this area with all the new city laws.
I don't think the Legislature will bring it up, but no telling.
I'll ask a question--what's the fastest way to get into the State Capitol building of Tex.
Answer- A CHL lic. with the pistol.

By passes the crowd in line/ get to go to the special line.

I simply don't want to eat a cheeseburger in close proximity to some dumbschit with an AR strapped to his back.

Sonic is trying to rid their courtyard of the guys with the rifles slung over their back.

Ultimately, those that carry closed will continue to carry closed on Sonic property, whether Sonic likes it or not. Same goes for weapons in a vehicle.

I am not entirely in agreement with you, but I have to admit that seeing a bunch of guys carrying long arms in a restaurant makes me doubt their motives/sanity/prudence.

Good thing you were never in the military. You would have been scared to death Do all guns frighten you, or just Ar's?

Go eat at Burger King then. Problem solved. Open carry is already the law of the land, it's just that the law is being infringed upon. You anti's will just have to get used to seeing guns and maybe see a Therapist for your issues. Freud said that a fear of guns was a sign of sexual immaturity.

I don't know why anybody would eat at Sonic unless there was no other choice. Mickey D's and Booger King suck worse though. Sonic food is about like Alpo.

No AR's at Booger King? I'm down with that.

Whataburger and Jack in the Box are so much better than any of those places it's unreal. Wendy's even sucks less and they're pretty worthless anymore. I ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise one time and the food wasn't great and it was high dollar. The service sucked. Five Guys just sounds too gay.