Lots of bar owners are unhappy about the recent re-closing of their establishments, and some are suing Gov. Greg Abbott for it. A bar owner in Kilgore, Texas even staged a "Bar Lives Matter" concert and protest.

According to Zach Budryk from The Hill, the owner of The Machine Shed Bar & Grill in Kilgore, Tee Allen Parker, staged the concert and protest last Sunday outside his bar. Parker says, “You can’t tell me that my tiny little bar is the problem. He’s the problem, he’s targeting us, and it’s discrimination.”

Parker's Houston attorney, Jared Woodfill, told the Associated Press earlier this week that Gov. Abbot is acting "like a king", and that the governor's actions are unilaterally destroying the economy and trampling on constitutional rights.

Texas was one of the first states to "re-open", and has since seen coronavirus cases skyrocket. Gov. Abbott made the move to close bars and limit restaurants to 50 percent capacity in response to the rise in cases.

During a recent interview, Abbott told KVIA in El Paso that if he could go back and do something different, he would have slowed down the process of opening bars. Abbott claims the virus spread quickly in bar settings.

On June 26, Abbott issued an executive order that closed establishments that receive more than 51% of their gross receipts from the sale of alcohol, though businesses do have the option of remaining open for take-out and delivery, including of alcoholic beverages.

Under that order, restaurants are allowed to seat patrons for dine-in service, but at no more than 50% of listed occupancy. The order also shut down rafting and tubing businesses, and banned outdoor gatherings of 100 or more people without approval from local governments.

Are bars being unfairly targeted? Maybe the courts will decide. Sound off in the comments below and let us know what you think.

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