Monday, July 9, 2012

Casino Stupidity

From the Las Vegas Sun:
A political fight that will undoubtedly tug at the heartstrings of gun-lovers and haters throughout Clark County is about to erupt over plans for a new store on the Las Vegas Strip.
Against the wishes of attorneys for the Venetian and Wynn resorts, operators of the Shoppes at Palazzo mall obtained a use permit for a Beretta gun store and shooting range from the Clark County Planning Commission.
The Palazzo adjoins the Venetian. General Growth Properties, not the Venetian, operates both the malls inside the Palazzo and the Venetian. The Beretta store would occupy about 19,000 square feet of the Shoppes.
During a presentation Tuesday night before the Planning Commission, Fred Kraus, Venetian vice president and general counsel, said putting a gun store inside of a casino is “a tragedy waiting to happen.”
Kraus, who hinted that if Clark County didn’t kill this idea a court battle was likely, said the gun store would be a half-story from a casino and an exit to the Strip.
“They say you can’t buy ammunition but you can take a gun off site,” Kraus said. “Our worst fear is the wrong person takes a gun, has ammunition secreted away outside the place and uses the casino floor as a firing range.”
Kraus also said a gun store/shooting range wasn’t compatible with the other high-end stores in the mall. The Shoppes aren’t known for their bread-and-butter stores or comfort-food restaurants. Bellusso, Canali, Piazza Sempione and Viaggi, to say nothing of Victoria’s Secret, Rare Books and Barneys are some of the stores. You won’t find Pizza Hut or Cane’s there, either.
On the other hand, Greg Borgel, representing the Italian gunmaker, said this store would be one of a handful of high-end Beretta outlets, similar to one on New York City’s Madison Avenue. He said a single Beretta shotgun can sell for as much as $200,000.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jul/09/nearby-casinos-want-shoot-down-high-end-gun-store-/
As a non-gun owner, I don't have a dog in this fight but common sense says that anybody now can use casino as a shooting range.  Anybody who wants to, can come into a casino and cause havoc with a gun, as happened at the New York New York a few years ago when some nut walked in and started firing, injuring several people.
So, it will be interesting to see how this works out and who gets involved.  The next stop is the Clark County commission, where everyone is a Democrat.  

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