I was surprised to recently read about a local business owner near our gun range in Houston, TX take such a hostile stance against gun ownership. More so than this, I was surprised that this business owner is in the hospitality business and failed miserably in hospitality.
Here’s the recent article featured by Breitbart:
A pizza restaurant owner in Houston is taking heat for telling gun owners and advocates to “f**k off.”
Pi Pizza owner Lee Ellis recently opened and he is not backing down from his anti-gun stance.
Ellis has a 30.06 and a 30.07 sign near the front door of his restaurant, prohibiting folks from having open carry or weapons even with a concealed handgun license.
Recently, a pizza consumer asked the pizzeria on social media why they do not allow concealed carry gun owners to eat in their restaurant.
The social media director for the pizzeria responded by telling the person to “F.O,” an acronym for “f**k off.”
“I don’t care that they want to be able to carry their gun, I don’t want to be around them,” said Ellis.
He has doubled-down and was reported to say, “As a matter of fact, now I think I’m going to put the signs up on my businesses that I don’t serve alcohol, because I don’t really care about these people.”
Now the pizzeria has been flooded with bad reviews online.
“I’d rather spend my money on Pizza Hut and a box of ammo,” said one web user. A YELP user posted on the Pi Pizza review page, “Constitutional pizza is the best. Shame the owner doesn’t think so,” it was reported.
Another reviewer wrote “Incredibly rude staff and owner, all very unprofessional.” The reviewer alleged that they “Called some potential customers ‘poor white trash who can’t afford pizza’ and ‘inbreds.’ When referring to veterans, he said “oh, you’re a veteran – have a ‘kick to the balls treat’ big hero.’ The reviewer from Conroe, Texas, goes on.
There is a message that comes up when you visit the YELP page for the restaurant that states that they are in the mist of cleaning up the page after the restaurant has been in the news.
A comment on Facebook on the Open Carry Texas page calls-out Ellis for being a “hypocrite,” writing “From his own mouth, he’s admitted to needing a gun to stop a would-be robber. Imagine that? ‘Liberalism’ is a mental disorder. … He needed a gun to protect himself in his personal gun-free zone, and already knows his signs are worthless. He’s just your typical liberal; guns for them, but none for you. I wonder if his hipster customers would still eat there if they knew he was packing a concealed pistol? You can’t make this stuff up.”
The Pi Pizza HTX Facebook page has a notice that they have found themselves “in a social media conflict with a coalition of individuals from across the country that set out to sabotage our business by creating fake reviews and leaving false and disturbing comments on all of our social media outlets.”
A comment to the post said, “I want to thank you for standing up for those that are not gun carriers, as myself, and would feel much safer if more establishments had ‘no gun law!’ Thank you thank you.”
Ellis also responded to the controversy saying, “You know what guns are good for? They’re good for killing people.” He was reported to mention the wounding of nine people by lawyer Nathan DeSai as he shot people from a strip center parking lot in Houston as they drove to work early Monday morning.
“The restaurant owner says lots of anti-gun advocates are starting to support the business as a response, but what he doesn’t realize is patriots never forget. Those anti-gun people might be throwing you support right now, but we’ll remember who you are long after they’ve forgotten this ever happened,” Ken Webster, Jr. radio producer and personality from Houston told Breitbart Texas.
CJ Grisham, founder of Open Carry Texas, told Breitbart Texas, “Pi Pizza is under fire not because of any signs in their window, but because of their treatment of a customer who pointed it out. Had they simply responded like any other civilized and professional business, there would not have been such an outcry from the pro-liberty movement. Their childishness and vulgar actions set them apart from all the other businesses that post signs and respectfully explain their reasoning.”
Terry Holcomb, Sr. of Texas Carry said, “The behavior of Pi Pizza is simply unacceptable. Speaking that way to any customer simply because they disagree with a policy is nothing more than liberal antics. We rarely put any businesses on a ‘don’t go list.’ They have made it to the top of the list with the thousands of Texas Carry members in Houston and surrounding areas. Not because of their policy but because of their rude behavior.”
Well, I can’t say I agree with his behavior but would invite Mr. Ellis to come visit our range anytime as he’ll quickly find out that gun owners are not the way he characterized us.
Oh, and we serve pizza here too – and ours is the Constitutional kind.
