Kentucky Waffle House Denies Service to Uniformed Soldier for Carrying Sidearm

Waffle House
Flickr/rpavich

On September 27 a uniformed soldier said he entered a Waffle House in Nicholasville, Kentucky and was asked to take his gun outside if he wanted service.

The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m.

According to KFOR, National Guard soldier Brian Welch said he entered the Waffle House in uniform “with his gun by his side” and sat down. Once he ordered, a waitress allegedly pulled him to the side and asked if he would take his firearm outside. Welch told the waitress he was not comfortable being without a gun and he said the waitress responded by saying, “It’s one of our policies.”

Faced with the choice of being armed and not eating or being disarmed in order to receive service, Welch chose to leave the restaurant.

Micaela Shaw–an onlooker in a nearby booth–said, “I have a bunch of family members and friends who have been active military and in the military and retired, and it hurts my feelings when people disrespect them. I just wanted to stand up for him.”

Far from disputing the story, the Nicholasville Waffle House released a statement stressing their gun-free policy after the incident.

The restaurant said: “For many years, we have had a ‘No Firearms’ policy in place in our restaurants. We continue to believe this is the best policy for the safety of our customers and associates.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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