OC at Manassas Chuck E. Cheese; asked to remove firearm

[Regular_Joe]

I would have refused to disarm. Perhaps a polite, "I respectfully decline to disarm. If it is your wish for my party to leave, kindly refund my money." As the manager is giving you the refund, follow up with, "In this economy, is that policy and customer's comment worth losing my business forever as well as the thousands of open carry advocates I communicate with everyday?" Then walk out while the manager ponders the question. FWIW when you are asked to leave an establishment, you are not required to pay for your meal.

Make sure to follow up with corporate about your displeasure:
http://www.chuckecheese.com/company-info/contact-us.php

BTW their pizza sucks.

I have to admit, after having some time to digest this, I think my response may be different in the future. We actually ate elsewhere before arriving to CEC - you are spot on regarding the pizza quality - we simply bought a boatload of tokens and let the kids run amok. You are right about requesting a full refund if disarming can't be an option. I will follow up with corporate, although I am not expecting a response. Also, the young manager on duty was struggling a little with a language barrier and culture difference... I think the 1st Amendment reference would have been lost.

 

[ProShooter]

BTW their pizza sucks.

+1000

 

[Riana]

I thought I'd heard somewhere (probably a thread here) that CEC was a no-gun facility. I always CC there, so it's not an issue (except rarely when I'm playing skeeball and my cover shirt slips).

I personally don't like to OC there because it's swarming with people shorter than I am - all at eye-level to my hip. The kids are screaming enough without me encouraging it.

 

[MSC 45ACP]

There is another option. You could have gone out to your vehicle, concealed your firearm, then returned to the establishment. Granted, this would not be in agreement with their policy, but you would be protecting both your firearm and yourself and lady. I am not openly suggesting you do this, as this would be a highly personal decision to take, but rather an option in such a situation.

I have CC'd in places where there was a policy against the carrying of firearms because I consider my safety and well being far superior to some stupid policy. I only do this if the place I have to go to is my only choice and it just so happens to have such a policy. And since I am not breaking any laws doing this, I don't loose any sleep over it.

+1!!!

I carry almost EVERYWHERE I go and try to OC most of the time. I choose to CC in places where there are a lot of kids and/or sheeple that may be upset by the sight of a pistol. It just makes more sense to CC where more than 50% of all customers are eyeball-to-rear sight with my Kimber and likely to have difficulty concentrating on air hockey after the encounter.

 

[SouthernBoy]

It has been mentioned on this thread that the region in which I and a number of other posters live is quite diverse with people from not only other parts of the nation but also from many other parts of the world and that they are not accustomed to our culture heritage. Well frankly, that is not our problem or concern. When they come here, they should learn, understand, and accept the way of life and what it means to be a Virginian... not the other way around. Virginians are polite and accepting citizens and want to be friendly and tolerant of other people. But those same other people must return our favors and understand that where they may not openly carry a firearm in New Jersey or Massachusetts or Paris, we certainly can here in Virginia and it is NOT an abnormal or questionable behavior. The concept of diversity has been so polluted over the past 20+ years that it no longer refers to diverse ideas, but has taken on a new life to the point where we are suppose to bend to the wishes of the minority "diverse" members of the public. But that is a different topic and I better not go there as I will be chastised for straying.

My point however, is that Joe had mentioned something about this in his post regarding the complaint from another patron at CEC about his OC'd firearm. I had something like this happen to me at Wegman's in Gainesville over a year ago. The checkout lady I would guess was from some African nation and looked either Nigerian or Ugandan to me. She saw my firearm and made a few comments that she was scared. Then there was a problem with my Wegman's member card and a manager had to be called over. She repeated to the manager that "he has a gun and I'm scared" to which the manager just smiled and passed over it. The manager was obviously an American and my guess, a Virginian. This woman probably came from some country where the carrying of a firearm was completely forbidden and those who did were either police, military, or street "revolutionaries" and criminals. She needs to get over that as soon as she steps foot on our shores and understand that she is no longer in her native land.

I have noticed that most people who give the "wide-eyed stare" are foreigners, and most of those have been probably from Central or South America. Following these would be those from Maryland and New Jersey.. strange as it may seem. Almost makes you want to wear a sign, or shirt, that says, "Get over it... you're in Virginia, now".

 

[ProShooter]

I thought I'd heard somewhere (probably a thread here) that CEC was a no-gun facility. I always CC there, so it's not an issue (except rarely when I'm playing skeeball and my cover shirt slips).

I personally don't like to OC there because it's swarming with people shorter than I am - all at eye-level to my hip. The kids are screaming enough without me encouraging it.

I've OC'd in the Henrico CEC at least a half dozen times and never heard a word from anyone.

 

[Old Virginia Joe]

This cultural divide you describe reminds me of a disappointing realization I had at work last week. I am a govt inspector in the food industry. I deal daily with foreigners here in Va. who run food businesses. I was trying to appeal to the sense of obligation to do the right thing for their customers, from a food safety regulatory perspective. On these two occasions, I referred to the "Golden Rule," to help them see they should work to better protect the safety of the foods they produce for sale, as they would expect others to do for them. I have always understood the Golden Rule, or some version of it, is UNIVERSAL with all religions. NEITHER of these men had any idea what I was talking about, EVEN after I explained it to them in other words. I thought then, we are DOOMED as we keep adding people like this to our American fabric. God help us.

 

[SouthernBoy]

This cultural divide you describe reminds me of a disappointing realization I had at work last week. I am a govt inspector in the food industry. I deal daily with foreigners here in Va. who run food businesses. I was trying to appeal to the sense of obligation to do the right thing for their customers, from a food safety regulatory perspective. On these two occasions, I referred to the "Golden Rule," to help them see they should work to better protect the safety of the foods they produce for sale, as they would expect others to do for them. I have always understood the Golden Rule, or some version of it, is UNIVERSAL with all religions. NEITHER of these men had any idea what I was talking about, EVEN after I explained it to them in other words. I thought then, we are DOOMED as we keep adding people like this to our American fabric. God help us.

You're right. Some years ago, I wrote this and kept it displayed in my work area;

"The most dangerous threat to the SECURITY, WELFARE, and FUTURE of the United States of America is the concept, development, and promotion of MULTICULTURALISM."

Add to this the promotion of diversity as it has been foisted upon us and what you have is a deliberate undermining of the traditions, culture, heritage, institutions, and history of our country. By not encouraging and requiring new citizens to adopt and treasure American values, we are creating a voting block which will have the potential of altering our traditions, culture, heritage, and institutions into something not recognizable as American. Remember, most of these people have come from countries where the kinds of freedoms and liberty we enjoy are completely foreign to them and that is their point of reference. If we do not encourage and require them to assimilate and become true Americans, we are doomed as we dismantle the foundations which have made America, America.

 

[wylde007]

"The most dangerous threat to the SECURITY, WELFARE, and FUTURE of the United States of America is the concept, development, and promotion of MULTICULTURALISM."

You forgot "government mandated".

 

[GQflyboy]

Cec

I would have refused to disarm. Perhaps a polite, "I respectfully decline to disarm. If it is your wish for my party to leave, kindly refund my money." As the manager is giving you the refund, follow up with, "In this economy, is that policy and customer's comment worth losing my business forever as well as the thousands of open carry advocates I communicate with everyday?" Then walk out while the manager ponders the question. FWIW when you are asked to leave an establishment, you are not required to pay for your meal.

Make sure to follow up with corporate about your displeasure:
http://www.chuckecheese.com/company-info/contact-us.php

BTW their pizza sucks.

I have been asked to leave 3 establishments,... er make that 4, Forgot about the mall when I didn't know any better. This includes the Epic debate with Drunk people at the Thirsty Camel when I stopped in for dinner. The drunks pushed the topic so much that the bouncer had to step in and tell them to shut the h*ll up, and asked me to disarm. They couldn't grasp the fact that, at that time, a firearm MUST be open carried into an establishment that serves alcohol, even after showing them the laws. And also Dinner at the Garage, when the GM told me I had to "hide my gun" because I was scaring people. Both times I had food in front of me, and felt like a schmuck paying for a meal, and taking it in a to-go box. But Wish I would have known that I didn't have to settle the check first. Simply get up, and leave with out settling up? I don't know If I would actually have the balls to do it.

O yeah, and there pizza is rather raunchy at C-E-C, But i guess 6 year old children don't really have developed tastes yet.

 

[SouthernBoy]

You forgot "government mandated".

Good point. But I wrote that a number of years ago.

 

[Marco]

We have both OC'd at Chuck E. Cheese many times in the past without incident - usually great service.

However, after sitting at the table for about 15 minutes, the manager on duty came over and said that a customer had complained about the gun. He politely showed me the Chuck E. Cheese policy regarding their prohibition on weapons and asked that I remove the gun from the store. He actually seemed a bit sheepish and apologized, but said that he had to enforce the corporate policy.


Dang...we are going to miss Chuck E. Cheese. Well, our kids will...

A similar thing happened last yr at CEC for my son's B-day party but I got the head mgr on duty to back down as I was paying for a large party and had my CC holder on the phone to cancel/dispute the charges.

The person that appeared to be complaining appeared to flash a badge to the low level mgr.

 

[deanf]

I assume your entire visit was complimentary? Your meal/activities were disrupted in a most objectionable way.
When I’m in a restaurant, I expect my visit to be nothing short of perfect. Anything less and I ask for consideration on the bill. Being asked to disarm (ie: leave) because of the shortcomings of another patron when you were doing nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical is absurd. I would have expected no bill whatsoever.