Travel advisory: Yahoo alert
by digby
Chasing off the normal people can be expensive:
The Lake Ozark, Missouri Board of Alderman voted last week to ban gun owners from openly carrying firearms, even if they have a concealed carry permit, because they were afraid that armed individuals would chase away tourists. “We’ve had a tough time over the years promoting Lake Ozark as a family area,” Alderman Larry Buschjost explained. “We want you on the Strip with families, everywhere in Lake Ozark with families. We want you to bring your kids down here and let them loose. For the life of me, I don’t understand why I would have to carry any type of gun, concealed or otherwise.”
The ban was initiated by the local police chief, in part due to concerns raised by business owners.
Missouri has recently passed a state law, awaiting the signature of the government, which would allow anyone with a concealed carry permit to strap on their guns and swagger around, waving them in people's faces. So this probably will not last.
But it raises a point which I think might become relevant to a lot of places if this febrile gun culture continues to behave like fools: there are going to be ramifications for the tourist industry wherever the travelers are exposed to stuff like this:
If you want people from other places to come and visit your state or town, it's probably not a good idea to have a bunch of yahoos running all over town brandishing deadly weapons like it's nothing. They won't know that John and Jane Opencarry are upstanding citizens just by looking at them. And even if they make that foolish assumption, it's not most people's idea of a vacation to be wondering if one of these fine upstanding citizens might make one of those tens of thousands of "mistakes" gun owners make every year and accidentally shoot one of the kids. It's much more restful to go someplace where that isn't likely to happen.
.
