Just when I think I’ve seen or heard it all, someone, somewhere finds a way to take stupid to whole new level… Consider for a moment the manager of a Denny’s restaurant in Belleville, Illinois who asked five plain clothes police officers to either lock their weapons in their cars or leave the restaurant after another customer complained about one them having a weapon:
Police here have less than a sunny-side-up view of a local Denny’s.
The Belleville police chief banned his officers from the eatery while on duty after several detectives were told they couldn’t carry their guns in the restaurant, but Denny’s says the incident stemmed from a misunderstanding.
The incident began about 10 a.m. Tuesday when five Belleville detectives went into the Denny’s at 1130 South Illinois Street, ordered food and began to eat. The detectives had badges on their belts or on chains around their necks, but they weren’t in uniform.
Belleville Capt. Donald Sax said restaurant manager David Rice then approached and told one of the detectives that a diner had complained about seeing one of the detectives carrying a gun.
Even though the detective told Rice all at the table were police officers, Rice insisted the detectives take their guns back out to their cars, Sax said.
According to Sax, Rice then told the officers that it is company policy to allow only uniformed officers to carry their guns into a restaurant and that a sign on the door stated that policy.
According to news reports another manager approached the detectives as they were leaving the restaurant and explained that Mr. Rice was wrong and that they could remain. The detectives left anyway and made point of checking for signs alerting customers to the no firearms policy… They couldn’t find any.
Belleville Police Chief William Clay has ordered his officers not to eat at that Denny’s while they are on duty or when they’re off duty and still in uniform.
I didn’t know Denny’s had a no gun policy, regardless asking a sworn police officer to leave a restaurant because they’re carrying a tool of their trade is just plain stupid… It defies common sense, its political correctness gone crazy.
In sane world, what Mr. Rice would have done was explained to the concerned customer that the person with the gun was a police officer and that would have been the end of it.
But this isn’t a sane world…
Update: Belleville police chief: Conflict with Denny’s ‘made right’
H/T: Twitchy.