Prairie State Bank & Trust in Charleston had one of their tellers get a really nice look at the business end of a handgun about a week ago. Apparently the bank robber who robbed the teller failed to see the “NO GUNS” sign on the front door. Maybe it wasn’t big enough. Maybe he just didn’t give a damn.
Oh, that’s right! That sign ONLY applies to good guys with a carry license. Criminals can ignore those signs without fear of prosecution!
I called today at 2:40pm and they confirmed the building is still posted “guns prohibited”. “Guns are prohibited at that location.” The woman had no comment when I mentioned that didn’t work out so well for them about a week ago.
Good thinking, Prairie State Bank & Trust.
There is good news though. At least bad guys with guns go to Prairie State Bank & Trust and endanger YOUR customers and staff as they can be assured nobody will provide meaningful resistance. That way they won’t show up and threaten me, my family and the people I love where I shop and bank.
Hopefully our readers are in that same boat.
I guess I better just use the drive-up window instead of walking in…. that way I will have my gun at the ready in case a bad actor decides to rob the drive up customers….not sure there are any “gun-friendly’ banks in Charleston.
I believe First Neighbor Bank in Charleston does not have a “No Gun” sign.
There are a couple gun-friendly in Decatur, although most aren’t.
There are darn few posted banks in Champaign and Bloomington.
You almost have to go out of your way to find posted banks in Springfield.
A business that posts those ridiculous signs is saying it trusts a potential robber more then it does its own customers with concealed carry permits. Recall that those signs apply ONLY to people who have passed the background checks, training and other requirements to obtain a concealed carry permit. They have no impact whatsoever on others.
Many businesses have a very casual relationship with their customers, but a bank’s entire relationship with its customers is based on fostering a sense of trust, of responsibility, of security. At the bank’s request, its customers are entrusting the bank to act responsibly with their life savings, the mortgage on their homes, and their financial information. Yet a bank that posts those signs responds to that trust by assuming that its customers with concealed carry permits are somehow a danger or threat. It assumes that they will act irresponsibly. It returns their trust with openly displayed distrust. What could possibly be the basis for such distrust and contempt?
Ask yourself whether this is the action of a business worthy of your trust, whether you have a concealed carry permit or not. A great many businesses that originally posted such signs have since taken them down. Others persist in their irrational distrust of their loyal customers, including too many banks. Perhaps one of these bankers will explain to us here the basis for this betrayal of trust . . . .