“It’s a bit strange to me that you think you need to carry a gun when you’re having a cheeseburger.” – Chef Sean Brock in Want Guns With That? Chefs Find Politics Hotter Than Kitchen [at nytimes.com]

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

114 COMMENTS

    • Maybe they weren’t eating cheeseburgers. Everyone knows that bad things can never happen when you are eating a cheeseburger. It’s a law you know…

      • Great post. I’ll continue a little…everyone knows nothing bad can happen when you go to a movie theater. Everyone knows nothing bad can happen when you go to school. Nothing bad can happen when you go to the shopping mall…and exactly what happened in our area last week…everyone knows nothing bad can happen when you are at home, fast asleep at 3 AM in the mornining.

        • I’ll add just one more to that. Everyone knows that nothing bad can happen to you on a military base, either.

          • Great addition: Everyone knows the old saying that lightning does not strike twice in the same spot, so there cannot be another Muslim rampage at Ft. Hood, can there, of course not, especially since U.S. military are prohibited from carrying their weapons on base!

  3. It’s a bit strange to me that you think you need to have a fire extinguisher in your house even when you’re just sitting on the couch

  4. Luby’s. I don’t know if any of the dead there were having a cheeseburger. San Diego McDonald’s. Must have been a cheeseburger there.

    • I think they all were eating cheeseburgers. That is the problem?~ Don’t eat cheeseburgers and stay alive! or maybe it is concealed carry and enjoy your cheeseburger in peace.

  6. Not once in the entire article is the word “douchebag” (the term the restaurant owner used to describe people who carry concealed) mentioned. Instead, they say the sign used a “derogatory term used for an obnoxious person”, leaving the reader with the impression in could have been something as innocuous as “jerk”.

    Ah, the New York Times…all the news that fits their agenda, they print.

    • It should of been “referred to patrons as a feminine hygiene product” but that would hurt their sympathetic story.

      • Yep. If he would have just posted a simple “no guns allowed sign” it wouldn’t have been an issue. Certainly not more than a local issue. He’s the one that politicized the situation by calling a large portion of the population douchebags.

        No comments allowed on the article, of course. Good old NYT. Nothing if not consistent.

    • Plus, story comments turned off so you can’t correct them. I notice that most NYT articles these days run with comments disabled. I wonder what the formula/reason is?

    • Agreed. I don’t “get” the foodie movement and phenomenon. Just prepare my food in a manner that I like and leave me alone. In one end and out the other.

      • Seeing as I cook better food than the vast majority of these “chefs” all I can say is “go wash my dishes, beeatch”.

        So sick of all these “celebrity” a$$wipes spewing their personal stupidity all over real people.

    • Just an extension of the odd phenomenon of the media assuming we should care what actors and musicians think about issues. Lost on me. I don’t give a rat’s back end what they think.

      I’m only concerned about guys like this restaurateur because it helps me determine where not to spend my money.

  8. Case in Point: Sean Brock
    Proof that 50 years of NYC government anti-gun propoganda has paid off in brainwashing it’s citizens.

  10. The intensity of the interaction has made Mr. Brock realize how much the role of the chef has changed.

    “People are really looking to you for answers and guidance and your opinion on things,” Mr. Brock said.

    No. They’re really not. How about you just shut up and bring me a sandwich.

      • And that’ll land a motherfucker in prison. Or bankrupt. I’ll invite him to watch me burn my new restaurant down.

        • How many times have you sent your food into a lab for testing to see if there were any bodily fluids in it?

          My guess, none, or you would already have sued someone into bankruptcy. Odds are pretty good that at some point you’ve eaten something you would not be happy to know that you’ve eaten.

  11. And it is the cook’s business what I carry,,,,,,how?

    Idiots like this need their places clearly signed so armed citizens know NOT to stop robberies or assaults being perpetuated against them or their employees. Reapeth what they seweth.

  12. Strange? You want to talk about strange…

    I think it’s strange when people have a diet coke while gorging on a 1150 calorie heart attack with cheese.

    Your food is killing more people than my gun is, so put your hipster glasses back on, get in the kitchen and make me something yummy.

    • Now look…it is not good to make sense. The zombie masses will never stop to listen…another brick in the wall.

    • Cheeseburgers are bad for you, and “Anything not good for you is bad; hence, illegal.”
      Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) – Demolition Man

      We should just ban the burger and the gun to be safe . . . for the children.

  13. “POSTED A SARCASTIC SIGN” It was NOT a sarcastic sign, it was down right rude, and denigrated gun owners. I love how this article glosses over the fact that had it been a standard LAW abiding no guns sign, this wouldn’t have been a footnote in the local grade school paper, but the whole point and the reason it did reach national attention WAS THE WORDING OF THE SIGN! #smh

  14. This shows you can’t trust yelp for honest reviews this ” chief” is a hypocrite that has a CCW but won’t let guns in to his bar and calls gun owners douchebags. Then when he gets bad reviews he pays yelp to remove them. Trust that horrible rag the NYT to side with him.

  15. It’s a bit strange to me that a chef would try to dictate the private, personal behavior of his customers.

  16. It’s a bit strange to me that that anyones care what Chef Sean Brock thinks about anything. Except maybe the secret to a great tasting cheeseburger.

    • It’s also odd that the same guy who doesn’t want guns in his restaurants keeps a 9mm by his bed. So he saying his restaurants are safer than his own home?

      • You mean to say, he is a hypocrite?! I thought hypocrite and democrat were synonymous, or at least redundant.

        He is packing light with just a 9mm by his bed. I have my Glocks and a shotgun, might upgrade soon.

  17. This bloke should shut up. If he doesn’t approve it’s his business, don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. By the way, isn’t he setting himself up? Lol.

  18. It’s a bit strange that ones life can be snuffed out by a crazed psycho while enjoying a cheeseburger, But that is the reality.

  19. I carry a gun to get a burger, so when the bad guys bring them, don’t shoot those who refuse to carry them, and in fact hate me for it as well.

  20. The idea that you could possibly know when or where you’ll need a firearm is a logical fallacy. Carrying a gun is exactly like using a seat belt: it only works if you use it every time – even if you’re just going to the corner Kwik-E-Mart or to the McDonalds drive-up.

    If you did know when & where you would need a gun (or a seat belt), YOU WOULDN’T GO THERE.

  21. These people fall into the “nothing bad will happen to me in a restaurant because it never has” mentality. People get lulled into a false sense of security inside their glass and concrete box (think people who pick their noses while driving as if no one can see them). As if what’s going on in the street can never make its way into their establishment. After all, criminals don’t know how to open doors.

  22. Here is what I find strange at restaurants, a young couple where the girl is wearing nice clothes and the guy is wearing jeans, sneakers, cammo Bone Collector t-shirt, and trucker hat. Then they sit there and never speak but text away on their iPhones.
    I find it strange that beautiful girls date douche bags that have no respect. I find it strange that people need smart phones while eating a cheeseburger. I don’t find it strange that someone wants to exercise their right to bear arms.

    • You need to be writing for the Atlanta Journal & Constitution. There needs to be something in there worth reading after all.

    • I agree with your first sentence 100%. One of the worst looks I think, is people who wear jeans that all torn and ragged. I can’t believe they think they are looking good!
      If these are the folks that will be running our country in a few years, god forbid!

  24. He’s just using projection. He doesn’t really need an entire kitchen and cooking crew because as a cook he just uses the microwave.

  25. When I see these signs, I just KNOW that I need not do business in their establishment.

    I choose to vote with my dollar rather than argue policy with the owner: I’ve tried, and it is frustrating & fruitless.

    If I MUST HAVE a cheeseburger from THAT restaurant, then I take my chances with carrying in a posted, no carry location.

  26. People like this are why we can’t have nice things. They lack the ability to see outside of their own warped reality.

  27. Now, unless you are being irresponsible, how the heck would the restaurant management know you were carrying concealed? Are they going to employ security and do pat-downs and have a metal detector arch installed? I think having that would kill their business more than just letting people who carry concealed do so on their premises. You’d wonder what kind of restaurant does that sort of security theatre, ya know?

    And, truth be told, most POTG I know ignore “no weapons” signs (at least here in Florida) anyways. Not out of a sense of “well, screw you IKEA!” (IKEA is one business around here that has a sign) but out of a sense of inconvenience and also, a lot of the times, the sign that says “No weapons” is usually pretty small compared to the “Today’s special – furniture with extra screws 50 percent off!”

    Shows you where the priorities of the company are.

  28. LEOs tool up every day they go to work, better assure they will go home end of shift. A CHL holder does the same thing for the same reason. I consider legal carry a public service due to costing the tax payer less money to have my rape or murder investiagated, perp arrest, trial, incarceration, appeals.
    Crime is expensive, getting a conceal hand gun lincense, not so much.

    • Oooo, this is a most excellent point.

      Personal responsibility saves public money in SO many ways, and SD is not an exception.

      Wow. Another good point to bang on constantly.

    • Last case of an armed invasion and killing cost taxpayers in my state over $1 million total. Cost of a CCW in my state $135 which is for a handgun safety course. A state legislator is proposing a bill that will offer a full refund of the $135 on taxes one year later, so the cost of the course and CCW would be ZERO. That is a REAL CHEAP deterrent.

  29. Of course the NYT posts a picture of a different sign. Do they really think nobody is going to know the difference? Have they ever heard of this thing called the internet?

  30. Well then, sir, if it makes you feel any better, you can rest easy that this particular gun owner will not come to your restaurant with a gun. Or without one, for that matter.

  31. “Dear Sir or Madam,
    I’ve noticed your establishment refuses to allow patrons to exercise their legal, natural, and constitutionally protected right to bear arms. In order to continue to do business together, please sign the attached form, acknowledging that you take personal, financial, civil, and legal responsibility for my safety, while I visit your shop/store/restaurant.

    Thank You,
    A concerned customer”

  33. I have been to Husk Nashville. I went back in October. I am not sure anyone else on this forum can say that they have been there too but there might be one or two of you. Since I have first hand knowledge of this restaurant and am familiar with the area I can tell you all that their main clientele is Hipsters. Hipsters are not packing heat and I doubt this Hipster hangouts is a high valued target to be robbed. You might get mugged going to your car a block or two away. Sean Brock should stick to food and his love for whiskey and leave gun to the rest of us. I am certainly not going to go into his kitchen and tell him how to cook a burger.

  35. It’s a bit strange to me that a business owner wants to alienate a whole lot of potential customers. That’s perfectly fine for him to have his views and to refuse service to those he wants to, and it’s perfectly fine for me and for anyone else to choose other places to spend out money at.

  36. Hmmm- so are you a good cook Mr. Bock? Run a tight ship? – keep the kitchen clean?- keep all flammables away from your ovens and stoves? Then it’s a bit strange to me that you think you need to have a fire extuinguisher nearby when you’re making a cheeseburger…

  37. I understand there were some people called in with threats to the eatery.
    The people that do that are nuts. The problem is that the media puts the word GUN in front of that personality type, all CCW’s are thus painted.
    That is why the story made it to the NYT. Because there are “gun nuts” and the NYT wants to exploit them to our (gun enthusiast) detriment.
    The owners choices are not violating anyone’s right but are an exercise of their rights. Isn’t America great that they can exercise control over what is theirs and hopefully we will be able to continue to exercise our 2A rights.

    There are thousands of restaurants’ that I will never get around to eating at. The policy of this one just opens the door for the one that would have been next on the list. Not a problem.

    BTW. I heard this story broadcast on the Canadian Radio program “As it Happens” the other night.
    The owner is a .22 rifle collector and owns a few pistols.

  39. I’ve eaten at Husk in Charleston several times. Loved it!

    I’ll never go back. There are plenty of other places to eat in Charleston.

    • I’ve eaten at Husk in Nashville once. Loved it! (Wife and I had a phenominal meal and evening at Husk)

      I’ll never go back. There are plenty of other places to eat in Nashville.

      I do not know about Charleston but the Nashville locale is a Hipster magnet. Hipsters are not know to carry firearms.

  40. It’s a bit strange to me that you’re out talking smack about gun owners in the NY Times when you should be in the kitchen cooking me a damn cheeseburger.

  42. You can scarcely go a day in Houston without reading of an armed robbery at a seemingly normal, everyday kind of place, like gas stations, grocery stores and particularly restaurants. These take place at all times and in all parts of town, not just middle of the night in the seedy parts.

    It’s a bit strange to me that you think you’re insulated from random and vicious criminal violence just because you’re having cheeseburger.

  44. I had a super fun 5-tweet twitter war with an MDA gal on this one.

    She lost. Icing on the cake.

        • “You do not have permission to view this album”–am I correct in assuming you have to be signed up for twitter to see this stuff?

        • I was wondering how that would turn out.

          No, it’s google+ and I am just getting used to it.

          I changed the permissions on the album, you should be able to see it now.

          Sorry, technical fumbling.

          Twitter war, functional link

          (I also seem to have no control over the order of the two shots: page 1 is the one Change4TheGood posts the link to the article and says “do you want GUNS with that? NO” )

    • The key to any war is to first gauge the sincerity of the opposition. There can be no debate if they don’t believe actually believe their position. These are people like Kelly, Gabby, Shannon, Feinstein, and Yee. Facts don’t support them and they know it so they argue insincerely. They use lies and untruths to support a position they know is wrong. A person that truly believes that guns are evil due to some poor argument or misconceived notions can be shown the light with reasonable, sincere appeals to logic, facts, and freedom. I can work with that.

      • I don’t engage the #gunsense crowd to convert them.

        I do it to massage their amygdala and send them into hijack, to prove to anyone watching that it can be done and how to do it.

  45. I’ve eaten at his restaurant and enjoyed the cheeseburger and fries with friends. Neither friends nor I will return. He is a douche not us. We practice the Second Amendment, we do not restrict it, he does. There are definitely good cheeseburgers and fries elsewhere, even if I have to make them myself!

    • But the sign very clearly said we are the douches, and as all progressives know , pieces of paper with words written on them have greater force than actual reality.

      • Reminds me of something I reminded my son when he came home telling me that other boys were calling him names….”sticks and stones….”

  46. I’m concerned about my health. My gun does more for my health than your cheeseburger would.

  47. How dare people not agree with his opinion? And how dare he have to face repercussions for his public sharing of his disdain for half the population?

  48. I don’t feel the need to carry a firearm with me when i go out to eat.

    The only need I feel is the need to have people stop telling me that I’m odd for wanting a firearm for any reason whatsoever.

  49. News Flash

    Over the Hill Cook Gets Article and Pic in NYT in Bid to Promote New Book/TV Show

  51. This will surprise some people: in New York State it is legal to carry a concealed gun into any restaurant or bar and consume alcohol. No Gun signs in NY State are merely suggestions if not prohibited by law.

    Yet, still, no blood running in the streets.

  52. From the NYT article….

    “Still, he and his partners have not decided whether to put up signs prohibiting guns. “The pressure to make the right move is intense,” he said. “When you start to become this stage for rights, you have to be so careful. You can’t put your own beliefs up front because it’s not just a singular opinion. Your opinion will affect so many other people.”

    He has already felt the pressure from advocates of stricter gun control, who came to his office the night he was opening Husk in Nashville last May.

    The organization Gun-Free Dining Tennessee, which formed after that state enacted a similar piece of concealed-weapons legislation in 2009, keeps a public list of restaurants that do and do not offer gun-free dining.

    Ray Friedman, a professor at Vanderbilt University who started the list, asked Mr. Brock to post a “no guns” sign or face pickets.

    “I sympathize with the restaurant owners because they didn’t choose to be in the middle of this, but this is where it is playing out,” Mr. Friedman said.”

    In case anyone asks, there’s your gun control kooks.

    As for the chef’s quote, his restaurant has an $11 lunch hamburger. Not exactly Sonic or McD’s.

    Seems to me the only people making this into a big deal are gun control advocates and restaurant owners. They’re definitely making a mountain out of a molehill.

    Interesting to see SC issues on the national stage though.

    • It is interesting to note that at least two Baptist churches are offering arms for attending services and then put all the names/numbers into a drawing at the end of the month for a rifle. With all the nuttiness going around now because of the leftist Vanderbilt prof (I had some at LSU), I am fairly sure a church or more in the Nashville area will catch on to the wave and offer free guns for coming to service. That will garner a huge amount of attention now that this idiocy is going down in the area. The last thing that is wanted by the leftists is that light is placed on their activities, so the more attention the better!

  53. Late entry; the particular phrasing of this comment is being used frequently. “I find it a bit strange that you would think you need a gun when you’re (fill in common, every day activity.)” They are teaching the lizard brain that ordinary things and guns don’t mix. The imagination will conjure images of people using their glock as a fork, shoveling dirt with a shotgun, signing checks with a tec9. Language is critical when you paint with such a broad brush.

    • You’re right, the phrasing is the key. Maybe it should be put this way:

      People that kill others never go to movie theaters, so keep movie theaters a “gun free” zone.

      People that kill children never go to schools, so keep schools a “gun free” zone.

      Killers never go to shopping malls, so keep shopping malls a “gun free” zone.

      Killers never go to ___________, so keep ____________ a “gun free” zone.

  54. I am currently only a few miles away from his Nashville location, first time I have ever heard of the restaurant. It is located between hipsterville (the Gulch) and a government housing project. Yeah, don’t expect me to be visiting his place.

  55. After reading the “times” article, I see the business was contacted on opening night by the anti-gun crowd who threatened to picket his place unless he caved. According to the site of said anti-gunners, his place currently allows carry. I probably still won’t eat there but I do have respect for him.

    • If he really wants to defeat the anti-Second Amendment Vanderbilt prof idiot and his minions, all the chef would have to do is to give out tickets to each person eating at the restaurant and at the end of the night shift or at some time he designated have a drawing for a free hand gun. Collect all the tickets for a month and enter them into the drawing for a free rifle.

      This is NOT my original idea but is already being implemented at least at two Baptist churches. Free hand guns and a free rifle. Attendance at services has picked up to overflowing crowds. The chef would get much free publicity and great favor with his customers. All those who love the Second Amendment will go there, even if it is somewhat out of their way. When I travel through the area, I will go there, if he did this.

  56. Because there are STREETS in between your burgers and the customers’ home, imbecile.

  57. I really wish the comment section had the ability to click “like” on comments that you approve. The Wall Street Journal does this in the Opinion section and it really adds to the liveliness of the discussion.

  58. Just take a look at all the chef shows on TV. Shows called Chef Wars, Last Chef Standing, and my favorite, Knife Fights, all embrace a distinctly violent overtone for a chef/cooking show. But they want the gun wearing public to listen to their call for their customers to disarm?

    “It’s a bit strange to me that you think you need to carry a gun when you’re having a cheeseburger.” Chef Brock

    I think someone who was eating a burger at the Luby’s in Killean TX, would have a few words for this chef. They could have used a concealed gun on their person when George Hennard went on his shooting spree. 24 dead because Texas law said they couldn’t take their gun with them into the restaurant.

    • Great points and post! Keep posting, here and everywhere. This truth must be known by all. At least some will look up and pay attention. At least some will understand. No gun zones are among the most dangerous places to be.

  59. I live in a rural township in PA, with 5500 people spread out over 24 sq. miles. We have had 2 multiple murders in less than a year, plus a woman eaten by a bear. I’m seeing MORE folks carrying weapons in restaurants, stores, etc, not less and I’m feeling safer because of it. Seeing fellow citizens armed means not having to wait 45 or more minutes for the police to arrive. We have no local police dept, and rely on a distant state trooper barracks.

  61. I truly do accept as true with each of the ideas you’ve offered in your
    post. These are very convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the
    posts are too short for starters. May you please prolong them somewhat from next
    time? Thanks for the post.

Comments are closed.