Restaurants Across American Openly Welcome Guns

It seems that just as quickly as restaurants like Chipotle and Starbucks are requesting that customers leave their guns at home, other restaurants are openly encouraging customers to bring their guns to the dinner table, like the Shiloh Brew and Chew — a "family restaurant" in Maryville, Tennessee, with a sign on their door that states, "guns are welcome," although Shiloh specifically does not sell liquor. If you do want to order a beer, you'll have to prove that you are not carrying a gun.

To be clear, the preferences of these businesses often have little to do with the actual law. According to state law, only six states prohibit openly carrying handguns in public: California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, New York, South Carolina and Texas, and six states prohibit the public open-carry of rifles: California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Jersey.

Since the Shiloh Brew and Chew's owners posted the sign, they have had a few customers never return, but have actually seen business take an upturn, according to WBIR.

Shooters Grill, an eatery in Rifle, Colorado (yes, that is the town's actual name), has carried out an even bolder statement by having their waitresses all carry loaded revolvers on their hip holsters as they take you order.

"They're real and they're loaded and we know what we're doing," Lauren Boebert, owner of Shooters Grill, told the Summit Daily News. "I fear for anyone who tries to rob us."

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Joanna Fantozzi is an Associate Editor with The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter@JoannaFantozzi