Delusional paranoid barkeep terrified of patrons

AP News finds the most unsettled and irrational bar owners in the entire state to interview about Arizona's new "Guns in Bars bill." This guy takes the cake:

PHOENIX — Bartender Randy Shields was serving British brews and Arizona ambers as usual at Shady's bar in east Phoenix when he saw a customer walk in with a hunting knife strapped to his hip.

A disturbing image flashed through his mind — "that knife sliding between my ribs."

That's all it would take for me to never visit a place like that again. Even if I was blood related to this psychotic man I would steer clear of him. That sort of crazy ass talk is projection; if he's so overtaken by thoughts of blood at the mere sight of a knife (or stick??), to the point where he screens his very own silverware because he doesn't trust his fellow man to eat a steak with it, I would avoid him because he's really the dangerous one. Seriously. That man is about to snap.

Here's another irrational bar owner:

"Somebody can pull the trigger, then a bullet comes out, and people get hurt and killed," said Brad Henrich, owner of Shady's, a popular neighborhood bar that sees occasional minor scuffles.

That's the whole concept there, sport.

"The idea of anyone coming in with guns in a place that serves alcohol just seems ludicrous."

I disagree; but think about how ludicrous your idea is that people don't illegally carry guns into your bar because there hasn't been a law or a sign to stop them. Do you think that they haven't been doing that all along, you just didn't know? Do you think those same people are going to give a moments pause at your silly little sign telling them you don't want anyone in your establishment armed? You will succeed at keeping the non-criminal element out of your place as they are the folks who will honor your sign. In all actuality you're filtering the good element out, which is indirectly letting the bad element in. Think about that.

And another:

"I hate to have to put them up," Mark DeSimone, owner of the Hidden House Cocktail Lounge in central Phoenix, said of the signs. "It looks scary. It looks to somebody like, should I go in this place because they obviously have a problem with people bringing weapons in."

Perhaps it will stop somebody who has an extreme case of paranoia like Randy Shields, which is not at all a bad thing considering what we know about the guy. Or, you could consider my witty pencil change of your quote: "it looks to some degenerate scumbag like, I should go in this place because they obviously have a problem with people bringing weapons in."

Think that's ludicrous? Try Googling "Gun Free Zones." Now, try Googling "Lawfully Armed Citizen" (hey look, I'm number five!).

And finally, at the very bottom of the article, AP News has thoughtfully allowed a dissenting voice to break through the ludicrousness. How thoughtful:

Marc Peagler, owner of the Silver Spur Saloon Restaurant in Cave Creek outside Phoenix, said he will allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry in his business, and Silver Spur will be safer because of it.

"It's a deterrent," he said. "In the criminal element, there is some logic that says when people look at a place that they might want to rob, the ones that have big signs up that say 'We do not permit firearms' would be the first target.

Marc Peagler mentions logic, which is noticeably absent from mention of the last three guys in the article.

Logic is like fresh air. Don't be afraid of it guys.