July 1, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga.---The next time you walk into a restaurant, the person sitting next you could have a gun...and it's legal. At least it is now in Georgia. Already, there are as many opinions as there are choices on a menu.

"I'm coming into an establishment to eat and have a restaurant environment or maybe even a family environment and you got a gun. Why?" Asked Andrew Stephens. That's a question a lot of people have now.

"I could understand it at the house, your home...protect yourself. But in a restaurant...nah," Stephens said.

The new law allows licensed owners to carry a weapon, concealed, into state parks, city buses, and restaurants that serve alcohol. There is one restriction...no drinking if you plan on taking the gun with you.

"It's hard to tell a person that they can have the weapon and bring it to an establishment that serves alcohol and then tell them they can't drink...how do you know they have a weapon?" Asked Hakim Salahuddie.

And the answer...well, you don't know and that's why some like the new law. They believe its a step in the right direction. "I think overall it's a great victory for gun owners," says Jeff Cooper. Gun owners, with a permit that is. To get one, you must go through a criminal background check.

"I think if he's cleared by the government to carry a gun. I think that's okay by me," Cooper says.

It's also okay with the Columbia County Sheriif's Office. I think there's some hope that this will be a deterrent, that before a criminal commits a violent crime, in the public or in one of those places...hopefully the criminal will think twice," says Captain Steve Morris.

Right now, only time will tell if crime rises or falls.

With this law, Georgia is now the 38th state to allow guns in certain restaurants, but it is the only state that doesn't allow you to drink when you have your gun. Right now, the state plans on enforcing the law only on a case by case basis. It's up to restaurants to report any lawbreakers.