Prohibited

So I went last night to see Penn and Teller perform at Hard Rock Live, located at Universal Studios Orlando. Even though there was no advance warning on the tickets, there were magnetometers set up at the entrance, and they were searching everyone. I walked up to the security guard and asked him if there were somewhere that I could secure my weapon. He said that they did not even allow cops to carry weapons in the venue. He said that because they served alcohol inside, it was illegal to carry weapons.

I pointed out that he was wrong, that state law actually says that:

Any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, which portion of the establishment is primarily devoted to such purpose (emphasis added)

Since the area was primarily devoted to concerts, and the sale of alcohol was incidental to that use, I think that the law is pretty clear there. But, hey, private property and all that, and not wanting to miss the show, I asked what to do, and was told to lock it in my car.

There are two problems with that: I have pared my car in valet parking, and there ARE notices everywhere, both in regular and valet parking, that say Universal Studios is not responsible for valuables left in parked  automobiles. I pointed this out, and he suggested that I rent a locker in a nearby nightclub. So, I walked the several hundred yards to the club, and rented a locker for $4.

This didn't surprise me, as Universal is owned by NBC, who are hardly defenders of gun rights, but it did surprise me that Penn and Teller would allow this sort of behavior at a show.

In short, the magnetometers were BULLSHIT.