I don't agree with post 87.
I didn't presume that you would.
It's not unfair, unethical or impractical to question something like selling alcoholic beverages at gun shows.
I did not say that it was any of those things. Just predictably blinkered by preconceptions about how things must be, based on one's perspective, limited to only one way of seeing them. There's nothing unethical or unfair about that. Impractical? Who's to say? It merely shows that we enter into all such assessments without anything like a level field of view, unencumbered by theories and assumptions, however overstated or irrationally weighted they may be.
It's not a insult, slur or patronizing to ask gun owners/vendors/attendees to not have drugs/alcohol/open flames-smoking/etc around guns, ammunition and/or reloading components.
Whaa? Insult? Slur? Patronizing? What are you talking about?
(And you're really concerned about smoking around guns, ammo, and reloading components? Wow. That's, like, a real thing?)
Ok. Sounds like you're used to working with certain sets of rules in public places and you've internalized them into "truths". Things that must be real because you've become invested in enforcing them yourself, and you wouldn't enforce a rule that isn't right. A few of those may even be commonly held truisms. But my point here is merely that the restrictions and limitations we are
used to and have come to expect become a kind of knee-jerk security blanket that we don't question. Whether or not the dangers those restrictions are placed on us really protect us from the sorts of realistic problems that those placing the restrictions claim they will. Eventually we find those rules become comfortable, familiar, and let us feel warm and safe because...well, there are rules!
"
Hey, I'm concerned about the risk of X. Well, looky here, there's a rule about X. Guess I'm safe then."
...2 year old child was playing with some items on a hot stove ...
That's an interesting story. Did it illuminate something about this discussion?
A gun show attendee or vendor shouldn't be on edge or feel a patron might get intoxicated then start trouble or have a ND.
Ahhh, feel... Yes. Because this is a
perception of doing something about a theoretical problem. As many others said, anyone who would be likely to buy enough $5 Coors Lights at the concession stand to become dangerous will have loaded up on $1 a piece Coors Lights in the parking lot (or at home) before entering. Is there a breathalyzer station at your gun show doors? People buying so many drinks AT a gun show that they become reckless is simply a non-issue.
But, we have nice rules that say they protect us from this non-issue, and we like them. They make us feel safe. Even though they can't do a thing about the -- still seemingly rare -- more likely problem of actual DRUNKS pre-loading before entering.
If you had a belligerent drunk attacked you at a gun show or were shot by a patron looking at a new firearm, would you be calm & relaxed? Would you say; "hey, that's okay, these things happen" .
Hey, wait! I thought we had RULES? Like rules against attacking someone or rules against shooting someone? If those rules don't protect me, how do rules against beer sales protect me?
If you want to play the rules card, you've got to recognize that there are laws with MUCH heavier penalties at work here. If those
malum in se laws don't offer me safety, a pissant
malum prohibidum rule against alcohol at a venue won't either.
It's not about "social norms" or "being enlightened". To mix guns with alcoholic beverage sales is dumb.
Except that, as lots of THR members have here testified, it isn't an actual problem in the many places where such rules do not exist. So, you can indulge in your own fear, and you can take comfort in the cozy rules you have there to protect from those fears. But that doesn't make your opinion "right."
No wine, no beer, no ciders, no mixed drinks, nothing!
Quoth the white missionary to the Native American or African Aboriginal. Your ways are bad, you should adopt my ways. That usually works out well.
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