Who here drinks?

In Iowa the carry permit allows one to drink when carrying but not over .08% BAL. (Same as DL.) One can carry and have a drink or two at a bar. This has beenthe law almost 2 years now and none of the licence holders state wide have over drank and the streets have not turned into the wild west.
When I am at home and carry I will drink alcohol. I have even got drunk at home with guns in the same room.
 
Though I agree it is not 'prudent' to drink and handle firearms (or ride a horse, or mow your lawn, or watch your kids, or...) there is no law referencing guns and alcohol together here in Vermont...

And there shouldn't be...
 
Nowadays, I might down a beer or two on a hot July day after the yard is groomed.

That was not always true in the past though. :)

My old man's words from decades ago: "Don't drink and operate a vehicle, or a gun or hang around folks that do."

He also said: "You can love a pretty woman just as much as you can an ugly one."

You can see why I always listen to Pop. :)
 
I am sure that there will be folks who disagree, perhaps even vehemently, but I see a mountain of difference between having a beer or a glass of wine with dinner and "going out drinking." No one should drive, handle firearms, or sign a contract when their judgement is impaired even minimally, but that doesn't happen with most people after the leisurely consumption of a single drink, especially when consumed with food.

For the people who think drinking heavily at home is the answer, do you remove your guns from the premises first? Or do you have someone change the combination on your safe and not tell you the new combination until you are sober? Being hammered at home with guns in the house seems less safe in many ways than drinking responsibly with a pistol IWB.

If you start from a place of careful handling and responsible carry of your handguns, it should take more than one drink for most people to do something irresponsible and dangerous. A single drink just doesn't impair the judgement of most people to that degree.
 
Talk of blood alcohol levels and statutes is one thing, but everything could easily change if a hostile prosecutor puts the matter before a jury.

"So Mr. Servo...you claim that you were sure your life was in danger. You claim that you had no other choice, and that your judgement was sound. However, studies have shown that judgement can become impaired at levels as low as 0.04%."

That's not a position from which I'd want to defend my actions.
 
The good old days.

In the old days the sign said "CHECK YOUR GUNS AT THE BAR".
The bartender could (or not) give it back when you left.
 
First, I don't CC 100% of the time.

HOWEVER, CC doesn't affect my social life at all. By that I mean... I can't remember the last time I stepped foot inside a bar. I just don't enjoy bars so any prohibition on CC in bars has precisely zero affect on me.

Further, while I do drink from time to time, I'm the kind of guy that drinks.... Meh, I'll go crazy and say a 6-pack a month. And it's never in public; always at home. No particular reason, it's just the way things seem to work out. If I want to grab a beer, I'm inclined to be taking my shoes/socks off, kicking back in the recliner, and *really* relaxing.

So once again, CC doesn't affect my social life.

Finally, if for some reason I was in the mood to drink while CCing? Not. Gonna. Happen. I suspect that I were ever involved in a shooting one of the first things that would happen is a BAC test would be run on me. I would expect that to be virtually standard procedure for the police. And even if I were under the legal limit, the last thing I would ever want is for a DA to be looking at my BAC and making arguments like, "Ya know, some people are much more suseptable to the effects of alcohol...." So if I'm CCing, I don't drink. At all. Period.

But that still doesn't really effect my social life simply due to my already light weight and decidedly private drinking habits.
 
I'm just wondering what kind of person has to go around unloading all of their guns, separating guns/ammo when they start drinking at home. You seriously can't trust yourself like that?

Might be time to get rid of the guns, or stop drinking altogether.
 
Just make different decisions...

Here in OH, it is legal to carry in a restaurant or even a bar. The catch is that you are not allowed to have a single sip of alcohol while carrying.

That said, it does affect what activities I choose to partake in. For the most part, I do not drink often outside of my house so it does not affect me much. I usually just volunteer to be the designated driver for friends or my wife.

There are cases though where I make the decision to leave the gun at home if the chances of me having a drink are high. This usually happens as a result of work functions (dinner with clients that I know like to have a bottle of wine, or I seem to end up at a lot of wine tastings for work). The only time this presents a problem is when business dinners spring up out of no where in the middle of the day and I am carrying as if it is a regular day. When this happens, I lock the gun up in the truck box before entering the restaurant. If I have a drink, it stays in the box until I return home, if not I just slide it back in the holster before the ride home. In OH you are not considered to be carrying in a vehicle if the gun is not accessible while you are in the vehicle and it is unloaded.
 
Here in WA you can carry (open or concealed) into a restaraunt that serves, but not into a bar that is posted by the liquor control board as being a 21 years and over only establishment. The legal limit is the same for everything, operating a vehicle, carry, walking in public...0.08

When we go out to eat, I have a beer with my meal, I do not see it as being any different than having a soda, water, coffee or a glass of wine.

I don't ever go out to just drink, never have, but I do like a beer with my meal.
 
My wife and I swap each time we go out to dinner, one of us is the designated driver/carrier, then the next time we switch.
 
I have to agree with a very few other opinions here. While I don't advocate taking your carry piece with you on a night out clubbing, I don't see anything wrong with carrying while having dinner with your wife as you have a glass (or even two) of wine. I carry all the time at home when I've been drinking... there's nothing like drinking good beer while cleaning your (ensured to be unloaded) guns.

Understanding the toxicology of alcohol helps. For a 200 pound adult male, 1 standard drink of alcohol will be completely eliminated from your system in one hour. You will see approximately .015 BAC increase for every standard drink of alcohol consumed. 2 drinks = .03 BAC, 3 drinks in one hour = .03 BAC (you eliminated one during the hour). I know this pretty well as I just took my intoximeter recertification. The point is, if you have 2 servings of wine at dinner with your wife over the course of an hour and a half, you will have trace amounts of alcohol in your system that most breath tests will not read (breath tests almost always round down to the nearest hundredth, even if you're at a .009 it will still read .00).

With this being said, alcohol is a nasty drug and I've seen people do some pretty stupid things while impaired by it (can't say I haven't been guilty of it myself in the past). I do not advocate carrying a firearm after consuming any sizeable quantity of alcohol, and as someone said earlier even a .04 BAC has an impairing effect on the body. .08 BAC is actually higher than the legal per se limit should be in my opinion, and I don't think the average person realizes just how impaired they are at .08 (assuming the average tolerance for an occasional drinker). A 200 pound male would have to consume 7 drinks in one hour to be over a .08 BAC (It would be .09 on the money). I'm 230 pounds and I rarely consume 7 drinks in one night. If I do it's over the course of hours, not an hour. Even then, I still feel the effects and wouldn't dare drive (or carry a firearm).

The moral of the story, no I don't carry while intoxicated. I guess I don't have to fit my social life around my carry because I rarely drink in public. If I do, it is only one or two drinks over a meal and I choose not to worry about it. I could be wrong, but I don't foresee a district attorney raking me over the coals for using a firearm in self defense situation if I have a .02 BAC. There's a chance it could happen, but there's probably a greater chance of being struck by lightning.
 
Being hammered at home with guns in the house seems less safe in many ways than drinking responsibly with a pistol IWB.
says sister mary elephant...:eek:
Specially with an ED-209 at home...

ed1.jpg
 
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I enjoy visiting my favorite watering hole,,,

I enjoy visiting my favorite watering hole,,,
But when I do the gun gets emptied and locked up.

If it's not loaded and the ammo is in a separate place,,,
Then you are transporting a firearm,,,
Not carrying a weapon.

I have two lock boxes cabled to the seat frame of my pickup,,,
The magazine or loose cartridges go in one box,,,
My unloaded pistol goes in the other box.

Aarond

.
 
"So Mr. Servo...you claim that you were sure your life was in danger. You claim that you had no other choice, and that your judgement was sound. However, studies have shown that judgement can become impaired at levels as low as 0.04%."

That's not a position from which I'd want to defend my actions.
Click to expand...

As far as I'm concerned that is all that needs to be said. We can come up with all sorts of reasons why a drink or two is not a bad thing, or even anyone's business. Use a weapon for self defense while consuming or having recently consumed alcohol and who knows what that will set into motion, and who wants to find out? I would not want to place my future in the hands of a judge or jury in that situation.
 
It's been over 20 years since I had a drink of alcohol, and I have to say that my life is much better without it.

I took some awful risks when I was younger, mixing drugs/booze and guns, and I'm lucky I lived to tell the tale. Glad to be free of all that.
 
Here in Michigan, unless your exempt box is stamped on your cpl, you cant carry into a bar or any place that makes more than 50% of thier business from alcohol. Also thier is a zero tolerance with alcohol and carrying firearms, any alcohol in your syetem is a no no. Cant wait till they pass the law were state corrections officers are exempt.
 
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