My letter to Steak and Shake, re: CCW

[4v50 Gary]

One man lobbygroup in the manner of Jim March. Bravo fmjcafe!

 

[tiberius]

The Luby's massacre happend in 1991 so any handgun in the car would have been just as illegal as one on the person. Which of course makes the law even more ridiulous, but won't help your case regarding Steak & shake.

 

[clange]

Good work, but i'd hold off for awhile until we find out what the deal is with the law. I bet there will be a lot more signs going up, should the law be upheald, as well as more people ready and willing to give them hell. If it doesnt go into effect the signs will come down anyway (cause we lost where it counted).

 

[Brian Dale]

Good point, clange. In fact, if other restaurants post CCW prohibition signs, you'll be able to tell them,

"I'm going to Steak & Shake instead. They value the rights and the safety of their customers, and they let ALL of their patrons benefit from the choice of some customers to carry. In fact, if posting your establishment ends up attracting criminals here, I'm glad that I'll be over at Steak & Shake. Thanks for the warning, and have a nice day."

Well Done, fmjcafe!

 

[fmjcafe]

One man lobbygroup in the manner of Jim March.

I`m not worthy!

 

[fmjcafe]

Here is Steak and Shake`s reply to my e mail:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for raising your concern regarding the "concealed weapons"
issue in Missouri. We always appreciate hearing from our loyal guests and
we make every effort to fairly address each concern we receive.

As you probably know, in conjunction with the Missouri legislature's
decision to allow private citizens to carry concealed weapons, the
legislature carved out numerous exceptions including a broad exception
allowing businesses "open to the public" to post signs prohibiting
concealed weapons on their premises. After carefully considering whether
to post such signs, we as a company concluded that our concern for the
safety of our guests and employees compelled us to exercise our rights
outlined in the statute and post the signs. We certainly realize the
"right to bear arms" is an undeniable, constitutionally protected right;
unfortunately, as a company charged with providing a safe environment to
our guests and employees, we are forced to consider "worst case" scenarios
and focus on the inevitable reality that some people will abuse their
rights under this statute, perhaps tragically. We cannot allow that risk
to endanger our employees and guests.

I hope you appreciate the consideration we have given to this issue.
We have a sixty-nine year history of serving millions of guests who are
consistently loyal to us. We hope you will continue to be one of our loyal
guests.

Kindest regards

:banghead:
Their contact info is a few posts above....

 

[Quartus]

Well, their position is clear - they are anti-safety.


Morons.

 

[cordex]

I said ...

An associate living in Missouri has informed me that Steak 'n Shake restaurants in his area have recently been putting up signs prohibiting law-abiding customers from carrying concealed weapons while dining, apparently in response to a recently passed (though stalled in court) bill which would allow citizens who pass certain background checks and training requirements to obtain a permit to legally carry a handgun for self- protection.

He reported that after contacting your organization, he was led to believe that this is a corporate policy rather than a local one, and that Steak 'n Shake feels that they must establish this prohibition in order to ensure the safety of their customers.

As a long time and extremely frequent visitor to your Indiana locations (especially the Avon area), I am greatly concerned by this turn of events. Just last week I visited a Missouri branch of your restaurant (though didn't notice the sign in question) and might well do so in the future. I am well known to the night crew at the Avon location and I like to think of myself as a valued customer. I intend to speak with the manager of that location to determine if I will continue to do business with your organization.

I routinely carry a handgun whereever I am legally allowed, to include my visits to Steak 'n Shake. The friends I meet there often do the same. Though I respect the right of private businesses to deny service to anyone they wish - including those who lawfully carry guns - I'm saddened that you no longer wish to do business with myself or any other overwhelmingly law- abiding citizens that choose to carry a weapon for defending themselves.

I have some questions for you on this subject.
1. Is this policy intended to have any effect on members of your chain outside of Missouri?
2. Does Steak 'n Shake take legal responsibility for the safety of its disarmed customers while they are dining there? What provisions are taken to ensure this safety?
3. Is it the belief of your company that someone who has passed State and Federal background checks, and follow the laws that govern them are a threat to other customers or employees?

Thank you,

Hmmm ... their corporate headquarters are very close to school ... I may walk over there some time and see if I can have a chat with them about this.

 

[Steel]

As you surely know, criminals don`t submit to the above mentioned process and don`t respect signs banning them from entering your stores with their weapons. Perhaps they will even be enticed to choose a posted business for a robbery knowing that the customers and staff are unarmed

Good point!

 

[tiberius]

What really makes me sad about the response is that Steak and Shake has a history much like Luby's that should make them strong supporters of legal carry.

I couldn't find a reference on line because it happened before the WWW, but when I was an undergrad at the University of Florida, in Gainesville Florida, in the late 1980's there was a grisly murder at the local S&S. It seems that a disgruntled employee came it at closing time, forced the 4 or 5 people working at the time into the freezer at gun point and executed them all with head shots. It has ever since been known in Hogtown as "Murder burger" or "Steak and Shoot". Think what a legal concealed handgun could have done in this case.

The only only online reference I could find using Google was from some haunted places site....no real news stories

http://theshadowlands.net/places/florida.htm

Gainesville - Steak and Shake on 13th Street- Five people were murdered in the wee hours of the morning inside the walk-in freezer by a disgruntled employee. Current employees will not stay in there alone anytime of day or night.

 

[clange]

Well if the law goes through and they dont change their policy they're going to get a lot more attention (from myself included).

 

[Henry]

I just finished sending them a polite e-mail advising that I will not patronize their restuarants given their policy. I know that my e-mail is only "a drop in the bucket", but they add up. Hopefully, they will reconsider this policy.

 

[cordex]

Okay, at first I got the same boilerplate email as FMJCafe, so I tried again.
Today I got this:

Dear Mr. ********:
My name is Barry Paige and I am Associate Counsel for the Steak n
Shake Company. Thank you for contacting us regarding the signs we posted recently forbidding concealed weapons in our Missouri restaurants. After carefully considering your concerns (which were similar to concerns raised by other Missouri Steak n Shake guests), we have reconsidered our previous position and have removed the signs forbidding concealed weapons. We hope you understand the reason we took our initial action and, correspondingly, we hope you will continue to visit our restaurants. Thank you for your concern. I wish you well with your future endeavors. B. Paige

Starting to look better.
My particular email was bounced from Taritha Braun to Dave Milne to Barry Paige (they left the forward stubs and notes in).

Don't give up after you get a form letter. Keep pressing and sometimes you'll get through to somebody.

 

[fmjcafe]

Outstanding!

 

[bogie]

The thing to remember here is that MOST of these folks are not anti-gun. They're fence sitters, generally don't know a lot about the issue, and they tend to "knee jerk" in the direction of perceived safety. Be polite, be courteous, be informative, and be firm.

 

[Brian Dale]

Well Done, fmjcafe and cordex!

 

[bigjim]

OK now we need top flood them with thank you letters for changeing their position.

Then we need go eat there and email scans of the dinner receipts.

I will do so next time I am any where near one of those places.

 

[sobrespetsnaz]

A few months ago 2 employees at a steak and shake in the city were executed by some former employees who raided the cash register.

 

[mljdeckard]

fmjcafe and cordex did it absolutely right. THIS is the kind of effort required to keep the momentum on our side.

What dkochan is suggesting is the absolute WRONG way to do it. On THR, we follow the law. PERIOD.

 

[Treo]

And?

 

[rondog]

What dkochan is suggesting is the absolute WRONG way to do it. On THR, we follow the law. PERIOD.

BIG difference between a law and a corporate policy. I will carry. PERIOD.

 

[Treo]

Hey guys this thread is over FIVE YEARS OLD

 

[mljdeckard]

Depending on the state you live in, corporate policy IS the law.

 

[twoclones]

Ignore the signs and carry anyway.

I think it was important that the letter be written. Would have been better if 500 letters were written and they felt it on their bottom line.

 

[Starcheck55]

Hey guys this thread is over FIVE YEARS OLD

posting here is a double edged sword. if you start a new thread about something, invariably someone will pull the old "don't you know how to use a search function?"

so this time instead of starting a new thread they found the old one.
:shrug: