vegaspassat
Regular Member
On March 29th I had an incident with the management of Big Dogs on Rancho, so I wrote a complaint and emailed it to the corporate office the following day. Here is what I sent:
I went the whole month of April without hearing back from anyone, so I began calling their corporate office. I never got a call back until I called and left a second message with the receptionist today. The gentleman that called me back (Rich, director of operations) informed me that I was indeed not breaking any laws, and that the bartender asking me to surrender my weapon was "a lapse in good judgement". Apparently this complaint went all the way to the owner of the business and his policy is no legal carry of firearms on the premises. He also informed me that they were working on putting up signage.
It's a damn shame. I REALLY loved going to this restaurant because their food (and beer as well) is out of this world and the staff was always awesome.
Dear Sir or Ma'am,
Last night I went to your restaurant on Rancho for a beer with an old friend. As per my usual, I was openly carrying my firearm. After having been at the bar for well over an hour (and having ordered one beer) my friend and I changed seats. At this point David comes up to me and apologetically informs me that the manager on shift that night (Tyrone I think was his name) instructed him to have me disarmed. David gave me three options: the first was to leave, the second was to place my firearm in my car, and the third was to surrender my firearm to David. I was honestly shocked. I have been a regular at Big Dogs on Nellis as well as the one on Rancho for over 4 years, and I've been openly carrying there for over 2. I find it hard to believe that this is a corporate policy because I have open carried at all 3 of the Big Dog's locations in the past without incident, and there are no signs at any locations stating that legal carry of firearms is against company policy. Now, while I know David in a professional manner and he seems like a very nice guy, Tyrone telling him to ask me to surrender my weapon has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone ask me. Un-holstering a weapon in public is a VERY serious crime, also known as brandishing. If David has any sort of criminal past, then he and I would BOTH be committing a felony if I were to surrender my firearm to him. Nevada is what's known as an "Open Carry" state, in that anyone who can legally own a firearm can carry it in a fashion that is discernible to anyone. I was not breaking any laws, yet I was asked to leave or disarm.
If you could please clarify what the policy is I would greatly appreciate it. While I enjoy Big Dog's I have no problem taking my money elsewhere (the innzone on Nellis has told me that they PREFER when I carry there), and letting the firearm community of nvshooters.com and opencarry.org know of your policy. I look forward to hearing from you.
V/R
Derek Lacy
I went the whole month of April without hearing back from anyone, so I began calling their corporate office. I never got a call back until I called and left a second message with the receptionist today. The gentleman that called me back (Rich, director of operations) informed me that I was indeed not breaking any laws, and that the bartender asking me to surrender my weapon was "a lapse in good judgement". Apparently this complaint went all the way to the owner of the business and his policy is no legal carry of firearms on the premises. He also informed me that they were working on putting up signage.
It's a damn shame. I REALLY loved going to this restaurant because their food (and beer as well) is out of this world and the staff was always awesome.