WebProNews

Tag: second amendment

  • Whataburger Stands Up for Frightened Customers, Bans Open Carry Guns

    Whataburger, a prominent Texas hamburger chain, has decided that it is bad for business to leave its customers frightened in a restaurant with someone openly carrying a gun. The decision is costing them the ire of Second Amendment enthusiasts, but they figure it’s the best move.

    Whataburger president and CEO Preston Atkinson said that too many employees and customers are “uncomfortable being around someone with a visible firearm.”

    Almost all of those people packing guns may have every right to carry that firearm openly in public, thanks to a new Texas law. But Whataburger recognizes that most people have no idea if that person may be the next rampaging shooter or not.

    Atkinson said he is an avid hunter and has a concealed-carry license himself. He also said that customers with a valid concealed carry license will still be welcome in Whataburger. But the same Texas law that allows open carry also gives private property owners the right to turn away folks openly carrying.

    Restaurant industry leaders in Texas expect that many other establishments will follow Whataburger’s example and prohibit open carry in their businesses.

    Open carry advocates say that Whataburger jumped the gun in making the announcement.

    “I think most gun owners that know this policy are simply not going to go to Whataburger, like me,” Open Carry Texas founder C.J. Grisham said.

    Concerned parents’ groups feel otherwise. Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America is one such group.

    Stephanie Lundy, spokeswoman for the Texas chapter, said parents whose children work in restaurants “do not feel that part of their job description should involve assessing the intention of armed folks.”

  • Antipsychotics Help Violent Crime, Study Finds

    A recent study, published in the medical journal Lancet, points out that antipsychotic medications can help reduce violent crime in persons who have mental health conditions that would tend toward violent behaviors.

    The study, titled “Antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and risk of violent crime”, acknowledged that the effect of these drugs on patients’ symptoms is well-established. What they were seeking to outline was the relationship between those aids and “the rate of violent crime committed by patients with psychiatric disorders”.

    In other words, we know these medicines help people feel better, but are we seeing a real-world reduction in crime committed by psychiatric patients, thanks to these medications?

    For the answer, they turned to Sweden.

    They Swedish national registers to study over 80,000 patients who were prescribed antipsychotics or mood stabilizers. They then compared the rate of violent offenses during the time those patients were prescribed antipsychotics or mood stabilizer medications versus the rate for the same patients while they were not receiving the drugs.

    The findings indicate that these patients had reductions in convictions for violent crimes by anywhere from 24-48%

    This news is seen as being relevant to an ongoing issue here in the United States: gun violence at the hands of people with know mental and emotional issues.

    Regardless of where one stands on Second Amendment issues, this study does indicate that it would be well worth it for the United States to invest in means to help get people with mental and emotional issues the help they need, including antipsychotic medications. If they are helping to reduce the rates of violent crime in those people afflicted by that much, it would certainly be a good first step that almost anyone can agree on.

    Image via Thinkstock