A Waffle House in Nicholasville, Kentucky refused to serve an Army National Guard soldier when he entered the restaurant wearing his military uniform and carrying his gun in its holster.
WLEX reported that the soldier, Billy Welch, entered the restaurant Sunday morning wearing his National Guard uniform to have breakfast. He ordered his food before being summoned over by a waitress.
"I got up and I walked over to them, asked them how they were doing and stuff, and they said I’d have to take my firearm outside," Welch recalled. "I don’t feel comfortable taking my firearm away from me. I always keep it with me, and they said, ‘it’s one of our policies.’"
The soldier informed the waitress that he couldn’t leave the gun outside.
"You know, if I can’t have my firearm, then I can’t be here," Welch said. "I walked inside to the other waitress. I said, ‘Thank you, but no thank you, ma’am. I’m gonna have to leave.’"
A restaurant patron who witnessed the incident, Micaela Shaw, authored a Facebook post about the events and it quickly went viral.
"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," Shaw said. "I just wanted to stand up for him."
According to the owner of the Kentucky Waffle House, the restaurant stands by its "no firearms" policy.
"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," the restaurant owner said in a statement.
UPDATE 12:40 P.M.: The owner of the Waffle House franchise in Nicholasville released a statement alleging that the incident has been "misrepresented," according to Eater.
Owner Ray Daniels said:
"We do have a policy posted on our Waffle House franchise buildings stating our policy in permitting firearms in our buildings. We normally are very loose on how we enforce that policy in terms of the military. However, on this particular incident, two facts have not been reported accurately that facilitated the situation with Mr. Welch. First, he was an active participant in a fight on the premises several weeks prior to September 27th. He was restrained and taken off the premises by off-duty police officers that were eating in the restaurant at the time. The second item not reported accurately was the time the most recent incident occurred, 2AM. We have associates who have to make snap decisions on our third shifts to provide for their own safety and the safety of our customers. Our associates decided because of Mr. Welch's recent altercation, which they witnessed, it was in their best interest at 2 AM to ask Mr. Welch to leave his firearm in his vehicle. Mr. Welch decided to leave. We still tried to garner his business at that point. I am supportive of my team's decision."