Customers who are drinking in the restaurant will not be allowed to use the gun range.
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A proposed business in Daytona that would combine a restaurant and shooting range will be allowed to serve alcohol.
In June, the owner of Volusia Top Gun gave Local 6 News a tour of the new facility, promising to keep bullets and beer apart.
While submitting the proposal, business owner Ron Perkinson and partner Edward Staudt went over the measures they would take to ensure safety and order was maintained in their store. Only one, Commissioner Ruth Trager, voted against the range and restaurant’s application over concerns about determining whether or not potential customers are sober, felons or both.
Concerns were raised about the wisdom of mixing booze and bullets on a commercial property, but the City of Daytona Beach has now approved the proposal.
He said he wasn’t trying to create an atmosphere where people would mix guns and alcohol to unsafe levels, but was giving them a rounded experience in which they could shoot, eat and drink in a proportionate and safe manner. But he said he needs alcohol sales to make the restaurant profitable.
“To the critics, I say, you’re right”, he said. “If you choose to have an alcoholic beverage and go home, that’s on you”. “I was leery”, Patrick Henry, another commissioner, explained. “Everything is going to be revolved around safety”, he said.
He noted that other Daytona Beach gun ranges had fewer security measures in place, and had not experienced problems. “Perkinson said he will also have access to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement database”.
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Initially, the planning board balked at the idea of selling booze where there’s a firing range.
