Style Weekly runs a "scorecard" where its editors rate the city's "zeitgeist" over the last seven days. In this week's issue, Richmond scores a sad "-7", due in part to a deep negative rating (also "-7") for the new restaurant carry law. The paper disdains:
Concealed-weapons permit-holders celebrate their new McDonnell-given right to carry guns into bars as long as they don’t drink alcohol. We’re not worried, ’cause you can smell these gun-toting crazies a mile away: When you get a whiff of deer-urine-soaked camouflage mixed with PBR breath and the desperate scent of loneliness — run.
It seems a bit forced and silly, with the juvenile name-calling and all that. It's also internally inconsistent: they're "not worried" but you should run anyway? And does anyone associate Pabst Blue Ribbon with hunters? It seems to be the beverage of choice for RVA's young urbanites, who are interested in a whole different variety of gauges than your typical stalker of ungulates.
Style Weekly employs Jack Lauterback, journeyman in the dissipative arts, as a weekly columnist. Last week Lauterback threatened violence against anyone who dared enter "his" bar while carrying concealed, and the editor-in-chief of Style Weekly chimed in on his behalf both here and on Twitter. I anticipate that this week's volley is some sort of last-moments-before-deadline heel-nipping, preceding a grander expose in a later, TBD issue.