Gun Talk at Center of Dueling Protests Outside New Portillo’s in Deerfield

DEERFIELD, IL - A few dozen anti-gun protesters gathered at the opening of the new Portillo’s restaurant in Deerfield Tuesday morning to voice their displeasure with the restaurant’s policy of not posting “No Guns” signs at its suburban restaurants.

“From my point of view, we had about 25 people come out and that was more than I had anticipated,” said Lee Goodman of the North Shore-based Peaceful Communities non-profit, the organization that planned the protest outside of the new restaurant on Lake Cook Road.

Goodman, when in Skokie asking businesses to post the signs, learned Portillo’s would not and was told it was a corporate decision. He didn’t find out until Tuesday’s protest just why the popular restaurant with a retro theme refuses to post the signs.

“It’s because (owner/founder) Dick Portillo likes guns,” Goodman said Tuesday night, indicating Portillo told the group of protesters such on Tuesday. “They like their guns and that’s why that’s the policy.”

In the city of Chicago, Portillo’s is required to post the “No Guns” signs because the establishment serves alcohol. But in the suburbs, the chain has the choice.

Portillo was on hand for the opening of the 1970s-themed Portillo’s as the corporate spokesman.
Goodman said when first discussing the issue with his group, he would hear “the usual stuff we hear from the NRA guys about them following the law.

“But when I reminded him he has a choice to post the signs, he blurted out that he has a Concealed Carry permit and that people should be able to carry guns if they want… I thought that was very unusual for someone to be upfront like that.”

A counter protest organized by the Illinois State Rifle Association, with “2-3 people” carrying signs, also took shape. Other members of the State Rifle Association were on hand patronizing the business.

Goodman says the exchange between his group and the counter protesters was civil.

Goodman reiterated the importance his group sees in organizing protests one store at a time.

“On a daily basis around the country people are being shot by accident and it’s happening in stores, in restaurants, on the streets and in their cars,” he said. “We hear about the gang shootings and the armed robberies, but there is a whole new problem of people getting angry and that just because they have a gun, someone gets shot.”

“We want to cut down on the accidents that occur in places where people do not need to be carrying guns…You do not need to have a gun to eat a hot dog.”

Photo courtesy of Peaceful Communities