Since MN recently became a shall issue state, and many private businesses have banned guns from their property, I was wondering about the following scenerio:
I have a carry permit, and have a gun in a shoulder holster. I go out to a nightclub that has a prominent sign at the door announcing that guns are not permitted on the premises. I do the responsible law abiding thing and check my gun at the door. Then while I’m in the nightclub, an asshole who illegally smuggled in a gun shoots me. Can I sue the nightclub claiming that since they disarmed me they assumed the responsibility to protect me from armed assailants? Or would they just shrug their shoulders and say “shit happens.”? Has such a suit ever actually gone to court?
You could sue, whether or not you’d win, I don’t know.
I remember a few months ago that some legislators in Arizona was trying to enact a law (I don’t know if they did or not) that if you banned people from carrying guns on the premises you were then responsible to provide for their security, and if you failed, you were liable.
I don’t really have an opinion either way - on one hand, it seems appropriate for them to ensure your security if they mandate you can’t provide your own - but on the other hand you can choose whether or not to enter such an establishment.
Here’s another scenerio, even more likely, I think.
Target stores , by corporate policy, do not post any signs in states with such laws.
So 2 shoppers in Target get into an argument about who was first in the checkout line. They pull out their concealed guns and start shooting. A bullet hits a customer minding her own business in the next checkout line over.
She recovers, and promptly sues, besides both the shooters, the Target store, claiming that by failing to post a “No Guns on this property” sign they increased her risk of such free-fire incidents, and so they are partially liable.
Wanna bet that a jury wouldn’t rule in favor of the poor, injured customer vs. big, bad, uncaring Target Corporation?
How long will it be before Insurance Companies take advantage of this to raise rates on businesses who don’t post “No Guns” signs? I don’t think it’ll be long. Insurance companies already force businesses to put all kinds of silly liability-reducing statements on products, they’ll do anything to reduce claims.
I’ll bet you’re wrong on this one. Got any cites for how often this happens, because I’ve never heard of even a single case like this (Not to say it hasn’t happened, but I doubt it’s going to be more likely than the other scenario above).
You do realize we’ve had concealed carry laws across the country for over 10 years now, with over a million (millions?) of licensees without having gun fights over our place in line at all - ever, don’t you?