By: Jessica Cihacek
jcihacek@kcautv.com
In Iowa, it's legal to carry a concealed weapon into bars. Something bar owner and city council member Rhonda Capron say's not everyone supports.
Capron says, "I think it's crazy. Why would you put a gun in somebody's hand that's been drinking?"
Bar owners do have the right to deny service to anyone who may be carrying a knife or gun.
Mac Behr's, the place were a shooting took place this weekend has a sign clearly stating they exercise that right. In fact, they oftentimes scan their patrons with a hand–held metal detector, and they regularly check ID's.
So how was Soloman Harris able to bring in a gun and shoot 20-year-old Natacha Butera? And how did Butera, a minor, get clearance to enter?
The only response we're getting from Mac Behr's at this:
"We as a business are not to blame for this. It was the person's choice to think he had to carry a gun into a bar which we don't approve."
Police say Mac Behr's will likely face charges for serving a minor. And this shooting has city council members coming together to try and prevent this from happening again.
Capron says, "We're already on it, so we're gonna have some good discussions. I'm also gonna try to get some of the bar owners together and maybe have a meeting and see what we can come up with on that side of it, so we do have some concerns."
But the Iowa Restaurant Association says this shooting just isn't enough to push for change at the state level and ask the Iowa Legislature to outlaw the right to carry concealed weapons.
Jessica Dunker, the President and CEO of the IA Restaurant Association, says, "If there were increasing incidents where by operators acting responsibly and yet things that were outside of their control happened, it might be an issue we'd be looking at. But right now, we have not received enough complaints that that's something we would pursue."
Soloman Harris has been arrested for assault, willful injury, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and reckless use of a firearm.
Police say Butera was not the intended target, rather an innocent bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
