A sign declaring that no guns are permitted is posted on the door of Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
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In the wake of the state’s new concealed carry law being approved earlier this year, a plan that would require all bars and restaurants in Chicago that serve alcohol to post “gun-free zone” signs on their premises was advanced Friday by a City Council committee.
The proposal, sponsored by Alds. Ed Burke (14th) and Brendan Reilly (42nd), would allow restaurants that serve alcohol the option to ban concealed firearms, ABC Chicago reports. Per the terms of the Illinois concealed carry law approved this summer, guns are already prohibited from bars and any restaurants that get more than 50 percent of their business from alcohol sales.
According to DNAinfo Chicago’s Ted Cox, the committee approved the proposal.
“Simply put, booze and bullets don’t mix,” Burke said in a statement on the proposal, CBS Chicago reports.
The plan would still allow retired or current law enforcement officers and the property’s owner or tenant to carry, according to WGN. Liquor stores or other businesses that sell just packaged liquor are also exempt from the proposal.
If a business is found to be not in line with the proposal, they would lose their liquor license.
Calling the mix of guns and alcohol a “prescription for violence and disaster,” Gov. Pat Quinn had previously pushed to amend the state’s concealed carry bill to include a ban on guns inside any establishment that sells alcohol, but the state legislature overrode his changes.
The plan will next head to the full City Council for their approval.
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