At Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado, the waitstaff packs heat
They love a theme at Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado. The menu features the Swiss and Wesson and Guac 9 burgers, and owner Lauren Bobert and most of the waitstaff are armed, in Bobert's case with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun.
"I wanted to start carrying just for my protection," Bobert told Nightline. "This is my establishment, so I didn't see anything wrong with that. I began to open carry." Bobert, a 27-year-old mother of four, opened Shooters Grill last year. While she says it's "not a gimmick," the theme does bring in customers from hundreds of miles away. Those who can't make it to Shooters show their support from afar. One man, who said he was a U.S. Marine from California, called and offered to buy a gun for any waitress without one; that's how Carsyn Copeland ended up with a Kimber .45 three days ago.
Not everyone is a fan, and Bobert said she regularly receives angry phone calls, letters, and posts on social media. Dave Hoover of Lakeview, Colorado, lost his nephew in the Aurora theater shooting in 2012, and is afraid people might forget about the impact of guns. "This is America, they're allowed to [open carry], but you can't glamorize the gun," he said. "What we need to worry about is keeping the guns out of [the hands of] those who shouldn't have firearms."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bobert would like it to become "normal" to see people carrying guns around, and says she believes that would keep violence down. She argues that everyone who comes into Shooters Grill is safe, and nobody in the establishment has to be concerned about getting shot: "I'm more worried about my cooks getting burnt in the kitchen than a firearm going off in the restaurant."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Do youth curfews work?
Today's big question Banning unaccompanied children from towns and cities is popular with some voters but is contentious politically
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Sleaze baack!'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 20 - 26 April
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
Trump criminal trial starts with rulings, reminder
Speed Read The first day of his historic trial over hush money payments was mostly focused on jury selection
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Parents of school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years
Speed Read Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents to be convicted in a US mass shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unlicensed dealers and black market guns
Speed Read 68,000 illegally trafficked guns were sold in a five year period, said ATF
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bankman-Fried gets 25 years for fraud
Speed Read Former "crypto king" Sam Bankman-Fried will report to federal prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Goon Squad' cops sentenced for torturing 2 Black men
Speed Read The former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Michigan shooter's dad guilty of manslaughter
speed read James Crumbley failed to prevent his son from killing four students at Oxford High School in 2021
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Shooting at Chiefs victory rally kills 1, injures 21
Speed Read Gunfire broke out at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade in Missouri
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published