AS IT IS 2015-08-18 A Mix of Food and Guns at Shooter’s Grill

AS IT IS 2015-08-18 A Mix of Food and Guns at Shooter’s Grill¹

People from around the world visit Rifle², a small town in the American state of Colorado. Many of the visitors stop at a restaurant called Shooter’s Grill.

They go there for the food and for the waitresses. These women openly carry loaded guns when they bring customers their meals. Customers are also welcome to bring loaded firearms into the eatery.

VOA recently visited Shooter’s Grill. We heard a mix of opinions about this most unusual business.

It is late morning on a Monday. Yet at this hour, people are already lining³ up to eat at Shooter’s Grill. Where else can you find a sign saying “Guns are Welcome on Premises⁴”? 

Georgina Booth⁵ is a waitress at Shooter’s Grill. She strongly supports the restaurant’s open-carry policy.

“I feel like it’s not a problem at all. I mean, it’s holstered all the time, and hopefully the need never arises to have to take it out.”

Lauren Boebert owns Shooter’s Grill. She says her restaurant stands for three ideas:

“God, guns and great food.”

She and her husband Jayson opened the eatery in 2013. They named it Shooter’s Grill because it is in Rifle -- a town named for a gun. Ms. Boebert was asked why guns are permitted in her restaurant.

“One reason why I began to carry (weapons) was there was an altercation⁶ in the alley⁷ where a man was beat(en) to death. And it kind of alarmed me, and I wanted a way to protect myself, and to protect my employees, and to protect my customers.”

Rifle is on the Colorado River. Many people in the town go hunting, and spend a lot of time outdoors. Ms. Boebert says her business’s gun policy is right because of the tradition and respect for firearms in this part of the United States. She says that if two people each have a gun they have something to talk about. And she says talking about guns lets her learn more about her customers as people.

Chris Hauskins has come to eat at Shooter’s Grill. She says she likes the restaurant’s policy. But she says she didn’t realize people could carry weapons there until she saw news reports about it.

“Well, oddly⁸ enough, I probably didn’t even notice until it became a story. And then I noticed.”

D.K. Brakel is visiting Shooter’s Grill for the first time. He likes having loaded weapons around him.

“I feel as safe as can be. This is the safest place you can be right now. So, no, It doesn’t intimidate⁹ me.”

People from other countries visit the restaurant. Peter Wirth is from Germany. He said he came to see the weapons and the women who carry them.

“And so we stopped here because we are a little bit hungry, and a guy on the street say this grill is famous for beautiful ladies and all ladies (are) wearing guns.”

The food served at Shooter’s Grill has names that relate to firearms. They include “Shotgun Burrito” and “Locked and Loaded Nachos.”

The subject of guns is an emotional¹⁰ one in the United States. Many Americans say there are too many guns in the country. Others say they are permitted under the U.S. Constitution to own weapons and they will not stop doing so. Of the 50 states, 30 let people carry weapons openly, without permission from the government. Colorado is one of the 30.

John Dyer is the chief of police in Rifle.

“Well, what an ‘open carry’ means is that people are allowed to carry guns in the open -- like, for instance¹¹, that I’m carrying it on the side, on the side here. That will be considered ‘open carry’ versus¹² a ‘concealed carry,’ where I’m, I'm, I'm hiding the weapon.”

Some Shooter’s Grill customers are not happy with the restaurant’s open-carry policy. Tom Fare is from Cleveland, Ohio. A friend invited him for a meal.

“I’m not a fan of guns. I’m uncomfortable with the fact that our country is, parts of our country are as fascinated¹³ with guns as they are.”

Others in Rifle agree with Mr. Fare. They think guns should not be permitted in a restaurant. They think letting waitresses and customers carry loaded weapons is just a way for Shooter’s Grill to advertise the business.

Words in This Story

firearms – n. a small gun

premises – n. a building and the area of land that it is on

holstered – adj. placed in a holster -- a leather weapons case that is worn on the body

arises – v. to begin to occur or to exist

altercation – n. a noisy or angry argument

alley – n. a narrow street or passage between buildings

alarm – v. to cause (someone) to feel a sense of danger; to worry or frighten (someone)

intimidate – v. to make (someone) afraid

versus – preposition¹⁴ used to indicate two different things or choices that are being compared or considered

fan – n. a person who likes and admires someone or something in a big way; a supporter

1 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

2 rifle   

n.来复枪，步枪

参考例句：

• The soldiers keep a tight hold of the rifle.战士们紧握手中的枪。
• They armed him with a rifle.他们发给他一支步枪。

3 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

4 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

5 booth   

n.小房间，公用电话亭，岗亭；货摊

参考例句：

• Where can I find a telephone booth?我在哪儿可以找到电话亭？
• Let's walk around to each booth.我们到每个摊子转一转吧！

6 altercation   

n.争吵，争论

参考例句：

• Throughout the entire altercation,not one sensible word was uttered.争了半天，没有一句话是切合实际的。
• The boys had an altercation over the umpire's decision.男孩子们对裁判的判决颇有争议。

7 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

8 oddly   

adv.奇怪地，古怪地；奇妙地；额外地，附加地；零碎地，单数地oddly enough的变体

参考例句：

• She's been behaving very oddly lately. 她最近行为极其反常。
• His Indian robes contrasted oddly with his fluent English. 他的印度长袍与他流利的英语形成奇特的对照。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

10 emotional   

adj.令人动情的；易动感情的；感情(上)的

参考例句：

• Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
• This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。

11 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

12 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

13 fascinated   

a.被强烈地吸引住，感到着迷的

参考例句：

• China has always fascinated me. 中国一直令我心驰神往。
• The children watched, fascinated, as the picture began to appear. 电影开始以后孩子们入迷地观看着。

14 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。