AZ restaurant carry - I stand corrected

The original AZ Senate engrossed (adopted) version of Senate Bill 1113 would allow CWP holders to carry concealed handguns into an establishment that is licensed to serve alcohol for "on-site" consumption on the premises if the establishment also sells and serves food prepared on site (basically, a restaurant, or a bar with a kitchen and a restaurant license).

As I read it, the House engrossed version of SB1113 removed the "food" provision, basically allowing a CWP holder to carry concealed into any establishment with an "on-sell" (on site) liquor license.

I haven't found the enrolled version (the official copy of a bill as finally passed in identical form by both houses of the Legislature and transmitted to the Governor), but I assume the House engrossed version of the bill is the version that was finally approved by the Senate and became the enrolled version. (This has forced me to do something I should have done long ago: learn how the AZ legislature makes sausage.)

In either case

• it is illegal for ANY person to consume alcohol while in possession of a firearm on the premises of a licensed on-sale retailer
• you must have a CWP and carry concealed; open carry is presumably not allowed
  
• the establishment may prohibit weapons on the property (other than an unsecured parking lot I presume... a different new law) by posting a conspicuous sign to that effect. Appropriate signage shall be prepared by the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control and made available at no cost to the licensees.

So, it's not just restaurants. It's bars and pubs, too. That's OK. It just means that I won't have to turn around and go put the gun back in the car... and perhaps have some bastard see me do it... when I go eat someplace that just happens to serve beer. That is, unless the place is posted as a gun-free zone (in which case I can take my gun and my business elsewhere and inform the manager that I'm doing so.)

As for the bars, those people who obeyed the law and didn't carry weapons while there, especially CWP holders, will likely continue to obey the law and either not carry or not drink. Those who ignored the old laws will likely ignore the new ones, too.

It looks like Mrs. Gator is gonna be the designated driver/gun-bearer for the foreseeable future.