B737 captain reports being unable to comply with ATC instructions to avoid restricted airspace while...

Narrative:

We had multiple small to medium size thunderstorms in the area departing las and encountered frequent light to moderate turbulence during our climb. We were able to avoid most of the strong radar returns. As we passed bty we advised ATC that we needed to deviate west around weather ahead. ATC advised us that if we could go north then we would avoid weather near oal as well and would be clear past oal. We had just enough time to turn north and still avoid the weather. I was insuring the flight attendants were still seated. I noticed that the first officer was turning closer to the weather. When I realized that ATC had requested that the flight turn towards the weather I advised that we would be unable to do so. When told by ATC that there was a restricted area ahead; I [used captain's] and told ATC that we would not fly any further west and to contact the airspace authority for said restricted area.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reports being unable to comply with ATC instructions to avoid restricted airspace while deviating around thunderstorms and tells ATC to inform the restricted airspace controlling authority of his presence.

Narrative: We had multiple small to medium size thunderstorms in the area departing LAS and encountered frequent light to moderate turbulence during our climb. We were able to avoid most of the strong radar returns. As we passed BTY we advised ATC that we needed to deviate West around weather ahead. ATC advised us that if we could go North then we would avoid weather near OAL as well and would be clear past OAL. We had just enough time to turn North and still avoid the weather. I was insuring the Flight Attendants were still seated. I noticed that the First Officer was turning closer to the weather. When I realized that ATC had requested that the flight turn towards the weather I advised that we would be unable to do so. When told by ATC that there was a restricted area ahead; I [used captain's] and told ATC that we would not fly any further west and to contact the airspace authority for said restricted area.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1275668
Time
Date	201507
Place
Locale Reference	ZLA.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	GPS & Other Satellite Navigation
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 105 Flight Crew Type 4391
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

B737 captain reports being unable to comply with ATC instructions to avoid restricted airspace while deviating around thunderstorms and tells ATC to inform the restricted airspace controlling authority of his presence.