I used to be against concealed carry in bars. Then I owned one. My perspective has changed. I now wish I could conceal in schools and churches.

I owned a small bar in North NJ from 2013 to 2018. It was a fun bar with live music, trivia, and football on the tvs. It was located in an affluent town with very little crime. We had very few issues in the five years I owned it, but the ones we did were noteworthy. Three separate times we had the police knock on our door telling us that there was someone armed on our block that was looking to harm someone and that they had reason to believe the person might be heading towards my bar looking for their target. This made me very uncomfortable. It made me very nervous that someone could be looking to commit a violent crime on the property I owned and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I didn't want to be a defenceless gun-free victim. I felt helpless that I had no way to protect myself, my employees, or my customers. I felt like the laws prohibiting concealed carry in bars were putting us in a position where we had no defence should someone come in with ill intentions. We just had to sit there defenceless hoping nothing happened.<br><br>The fact that we were defenceless seemed to be made worse with the fact that we were a bar. We were a place with liquor, which lowers inhibitions. We were a place with men and women, which historically isn't always a great combination. And we were a place where people stayed late into the night, hours when the local PD wasn't as active. <br><br>We did everything we could to prevent incidents. Cameras, bouncers, and bag checks. But if someone was determined to commit a crime, and was willing to die in the process, we essentially had no defence. We just had to hope that nothing happened and rely on the police to get there soon enough.<br><br>I no longer own the bar, but I currently volunteer at my childrens school. I helped bring sports betting to Atlantic City's casinos. And I go to church every Sunday with my family. If I'm being honest, I'm scared each time I go to any of these places. I feel like I'm in a gun-free zone, but not a crime-free zone. If I could legally carry in these places, I would. I wouldn't carry a gun for the sake of sport or to make a point. It would be purely for self defence. I've been in the position where I felt like I was defenceless against someone with a gun looking to harm me. It's not a good feeling. I don't ever want to feel defenceless again.