dmazur
Member
Washington State recently passed a law which essentially takes the State out of the liquor business and closes the State liquor stores.
Grocery stores with > 10,000 sqft are allowed to apply for a license to sell liquor. Existing stores < 10,000 sqft which had a liquor license will be grandfathered.
A local store has recently posted a notice which states firearms are not permitted on the premises.
RCW 9.41.300 lists, among several prohibited locations,
"(d) That portion of an establishment classified by the state liquor control board as off-limits to persons under twenty-one years of age..."
The State liquor stores were not posted. In fact, I believe I read they could not be posted, as they were public facilities not enumerated as prohibited places.
With restaurants with a bar area, the restaurant is open to CCW but the bar is not. To help patrons comply with RCW 9.41.300, owners posted the entrances to the bar as defining the area which was off-limits to CCW.
But with the new liquor stores, there is no such defined area. The whole store is supposedly off-limits to underage customers, so marking the store as a prohibited area would be proper.
I have not seen how the larger grocery stores are going to handle this. I believe they intend to have a "liquor counter" and locked cabinets behind the counter. Whether they sign this area in accordance with RCW 9.41.300 remains to be seen.
My question is related to intent. I thought the intent of RCW 9.41.300 was prohibiting CCW in areas where liquor is consumed. All liquor in Washington State was sold at State stores, where liquor was not allowed to be consumed on the premises and the stores were not considered prohibited locations.
Is anyone pursuing this new "gun free zone", which appears to have been created as an unintended consequence of the new law?
Grocery stores with > 10,000 sqft are allowed to apply for a license to sell liquor. Existing stores < 10,000 sqft which had a liquor license will be grandfathered.
A local store has recently posted a notice which states firearms are not permitted on the premises.
RCW 9.41.300 lists, among several prohibited locations,
"(d) That portion of an establishment classified by the state liquor control board as off-limits to persons under twenty-one years of age..."
The State liquor stores were not posted. In fact, I believe I read they could not be posted, as they were public facilities not enumerated as prohibited places.
With restaurants with a bar area, the restaurant is open to CCW but the bar is not. To help patrons comply with RCW 9.41.300, owners posted the entrances to the bar as defining the area which was off-limits to CCW.
But with the new liquor stores, there is no such defined area. The whole store is supposedly off-limits to underage customers, so marking the store as a prohibited area would be proper.
I have not seen how the larger grocery stores are going to handle this. I believe they intend to have a "liquor counter" and locked cabinets behind the counter. Whether they sign this area in accordance with RCW 9.41.300 remains to be seen.
My question is related to intent. I thought the intent of RCW 9.41.300 was prohibiting CCW in areas where liquor is consumed. All liquor in Washington State was sold at State stores, where liquor was not allowed to be consumed on the premises and the stores were not considered prohibited locations.
Is anyone pursuing this new "gun free zone", which appears to have been created as an unintended consequence of the new law?