Dallas restaurant receives death threats for placing gun control message on receipts

The owner of a Dallas restaurant says he wanted to start a "reasonable" discussion about firearm laws during the National Rifle Association conference in his city. So he included a message on his restaurant's receipts that supported gun control advocacy groups.

But his efforts backfired when Second Amendment supporters called for a boycott of the establishment. The restaurant also received death threats, according to published reports.

What threats were made?

One caller threatened to open fire on Ellen’s Restaurant, owner Joe Groves told BuzzFeed News. Another caller suggested they would set the building on fire.

"We’ve had people calling and say they’re going to shoot the place up, one that implied he would be burning us down today. Ridiculous people," Groves said.

The NRA told its members to “steer clear” of the restaurant due to the receipt message that stated a portion of the week’s proceeds would be donated to gun control advocacy groups.

"A portion of this week’s proceeds will be donated to organizations dedicated to implementing reasonable and effective gun regulations that protect citizens' 2nd Amendment rights and also help reduce needless gun violence. Welcome to Dallas!" the message states.

Groves told BuzzFeed he intended to use the NRA convention as a way to start conversations about reducing violence.

"'Reasonable and effective,' in my naive world, is a fairly benign and centrist view," Groves said.

The NRA distributed copies of the receipt to its 665,000 Twitter followers, and many were outraged, according to the report.

The NRA's tweet quickly impacted the restaurant, as it received hundreds of angry messages on Twitter and Facebook. About 50 one-star reviews were also left on the restaurant's Yelp page, BuzzFeed reported.

Did owner say he supports Second Amendment?

Groves responded on Facebook with a post that said he was seeking "common ground and compromise in the fight to eliminate needless gun violence, especially in our schools and against our dedicated police officers."

"Nothing we’ve said indicated we wanted to limit Second Amendment rights, but that’s the way it’s being portrayed. They're so touchy about that, any conversation is trying to take away their guns. It's the opposite of that," Groves told BuzzFeed.

Groves also said he neither supports nor lobbies against the NRA, and he is a strong Second Amendment supporter.