In order to prove that carrying their guns wouldn’t cause a panic the way a state politician has said it would, a group of people with lawful carry permits went from restaurant to restaurant to prove that nobody cared if they were armed.

And, as it turns out, for the most part nobody did:

The patrons at Champps in Reston, an upscale restaurant and bar chain, were eating ribs and drinking beer on a recent Saturday when customer Bruce Jackson stood up and made an announcement: He was armed, and so were dozens of other patrons.

The armed customers stood up in unison, showing off holstered pistols. Mr. Jackson said a word or two about the rights of gun owners to carry firearms in Virginia, then thanked everyone for his or her attention and sat down.

And the diners returned to their burgers and Budweisers.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) organized the dinner at Champps to prove a point: that the presence of armed customers in Northern Virginia restaurants would elicit little more than shrugs.

This was an interesting exercise. They went to eight different restaurants over a period of time - Virginia requires that guns be carried openly in places that serve alcohol and food - and in only two of them were they asked to leave. For the most part, nobody cared.

Not to play the part of Captain Obvious, but every time there is a mass shooting it’s in a place where the gunman knows no one is armed, usually a place of employment, a mall, or the “gun free zones” of our schools. Psychos rarely walk into a police station and open fire.

Why?

Because there are people with guns there, that’s why. The mere presence of people with guns who have been trained to use them is a deterrent and is a direct contradiction of the left’s stance that there should be fewer people with guns.

If someone had decided to shoot up one of those restaurants (like Luby’s - remember?) with that group, or any other lawfully armed citizen in there they wouldn’t have gotten very far before their plans came an abrupt end.

I like this display. It goes a long way toward proving a very valid point.