From the AP story on the proposed Texas rule: "Under current rules, if a gun show is held at a venue licensed to sell alcohol, drinks sales and consumption are suspended during the time it takes to set up, conduct and dismantle the gun show."
For all I know, that could mean that they want to allow the restaurant or concession stands at the venue where the gun show is held, to do business as usual. I don't think it means selling alcohol in the gun show itself as some posters seem to assume.
I also see the restrictions on alcohol sales at gun shows proposed in Texas to be the kind of restrictions intended to be onerous enough to nix the idea.
The gun shows I have attended have been at locations that had concession stands where food and beverages were sold: the Fair Grounds, the Civic Auditorium, and the Convention Center, consumed in a dining area set aside on the Auditorium stage and in the Center lobby facing the Center's concession stand. (The concession stand at the Auditorium was set up by the gun show and could not have a liquor license to sale alcolohol.) I believe the restaurant at the Convention Center has a liquor license and serves alcohol with meals, but I seem to recall you could not enter the gunshow from the restaurant side.
I have not seen alcohol consumption at a gun show locally, so I suspect a no-alcohol rule is followed whether it is the law locally or not.
That said, I do find it strange that people believe one would only drink alcohol to get a "buzz" on or get "hammered", or that people who drink alcohol all drink to the level of impairment or recklessness. Some people drink wine or beer with food, or have an after-dinner drink, like civilized human beings exercising self control and individual responsibility. In other words, they act like most gun owners I know.
And I grew up in a county that was "dry" from 1953 to 1968. The kind of people who want to get "hammered" are gonna smuggle their own hotch into an alcohol-free environment anyway. Or get their "buzz" on in the parking lot.
