I’ve been to Las Vegas more times than I can count. It has never been my favorite place. I don’t care for all the neon and artificiality. Like most gun writers, I used to go every year to attend the firearms industry’s largest expo, the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show. It eventually became a pain in the butt.

I miss some of the great shooting events and gun clubs there. I miss hanging out with the cops there: Las Vegas Metro is one of the finest, best-trained law enforcement agencies on the planet. I miss visiting good friends who live there, like Bill Goldstein and his lovely wife Diana.

That said, though, when I was a little boy my mother told me not to go places I wasn’t wanted, and that has turned out to be good advice.  The city’s hotels have pretty much hung out a sign saying our kind is not welcome there. Read this, from stalwart gun owners’ civil rights advocate David Codrea, at Firearms News.

55 COMMENTS

  1. I have no desire to go to Vegas, Disney, cruise ships, etc… At my age the artificial stimulation and large numbers of people hold no appeal whatsoever. Fortunately, through hard work, prudence and an innate frugality, I am able to live in a rural area with few firearm restrictions. I am grateful that I am not trapped in one of the many decaying urban areas in this country and have much sympathy for those who are. As long as the majority of the populations in those areas continue to vote for the same politicians and policies, I don’t see much hope for improvement.

    • Congratulations Mark, well said! My wife (excellent firearm’s advocate) and I (also a firearm’s enthusiast) feel EXACTLY the same way. We both have travelled the world for business, extensively, for over 50 years. And now live in an area as you describe. Unfortunately, my state is being taken over by the more “progressive” individuals that are escaping the land they created and now trying to move it here. Fortunately, we have enough land that they can’t get even close. By the way, I took my very first handgun course from Massad 40 years ago in NH. I still practice what I learned at that first course. Excellent lifelong training.

  2. Well, while the policy of the various “hospitality providers” is somewhat understandable. The implementation obviously needs work. Maybe someone in a corporate law department needs to review the failure to protect case Holiday Inn lost back in the last century when a famous singer (can’t recall her name) was assaulted multiple times in the NY area. Big $$$.

    However, it begs the big question: In view of the policies now in place, exactly WHY DOES SHOT STAY IN VEGAS? Take all the big money and run to someplace more congenial. OK, the participants lose out on a free trip to Vegas and the supposed thrills therein, but really? Surely someone has a suitable venue elsewhere.

    I used to visit TREXPO East on a regular basis, I commuted so I’ve no idea of what those who lodged in the DC area might have experienced, but SFAIK, Virginia has no such draconian rules. Y’all come.

  3. So they’re saying, “We hate your guts, but we welcome your money?”
    I know it’s a tradition, but there has to be a friendlier place to hold the SHOT Show.

    “on-scene ATF personnel were not allowed to physically examine the interior of the weapons for machinegun fire-control components or known machinegun conversion devices such as Drop-In Auto Sears, Lighting Links, etc.”
    As I recall, ATF never examined the firearms taken in Waco, either.

  4. Vegas has been a crap hole since the mob was run out of town.

    Say what you want about their criminality they kept the place respectable. Now it’s corporate whores and “family friendly”. If I want that I’ll go to Disneyland.

    • I still have to go once or twice per year for work. It is anything but family friendly. They are working hard to shed the family appeal.

      However, it is still way better than the ****hole of San Fran where my conferences used to be.

    • Yes, “he mob”was indeed run out of town… only to be replced by the very mob that took them down. Nothing changed but the names on the doors of the office buildings. Same game same ‘tude,same pain in the behind.

  5. Big cities are the “hives” that support the “hive mentality” of the American and Global Left.

    The irony is that, the more the hive mentality succeeds inside the cities, the more the cities fail to provide a livable space for people. Thus, each hive poisons itself.

    The result? People looking for livable space abandon the hives. With Today’s modern communications and distribution systems, one no longer needs to live in a hive to have a good job. So, people abandon the hives and take their job skills and jobs with them. The big cities are slowly, slowly dying. The Left’s hive-mentality and toxic ideology is killing them off one-by-one.

    Unfortunately, job skills are not the only items that some people take with them when they depart the hive. Some, not all (thank goodness!), fail to make the connection between the poisonous politics of the left and the degradation of their old homes. These “mindless” drones end up carrying their toxic left-wing ideology with them along with their job skills. They end up infecting healthy areas with their toxic hive mentality.

    It is very much like cancer. Even as the cancer destroys the once healthy cities (turning them into tumors and as the origin points of the cancer), it metastases to spread out to infect the remaining healthy tissue. The spread of the cancer is even further accelerated by the mechanisms of indoctrination (in our schools, colleges, and universities) and propaganda (in all media) that the Left has established and which it funds.

    None of this is a surprise to a student of World History. Most of the Great Empires died of internal rot rather than external invasion. We have the Roman Empire and British Empire as both distant and recent examples.

    America’s last expansion was in 1959. The decline began in 1960. American has been in decline for the last 63 years now. The Left-Wing Cancer is simply the variant of rot that will cause the fall of America.

    I can well imagine a Historian writing, in another couple hundred years, the defining work on “The Decline and Fall of the United States of America”. In this future book, the historian will trace the rise of the USA from its preliminary state, pre-Revolution, to its birth in 1776, to its Western Expansion during the 19th Century, to its rise to World Power in the 20th Century. He will note its peak in 1959 and also note that the seeds of its fall had already been planted, by the Left, in the early 20th Century with such things as passage of the 16th Amendment followed by FDR’s toxic “New Deal”.

    The final chapters will note the development of the toxic (and decisive) left-wing ideology with America’s large coastal cities being the breeding grounds (hives) for its development. All followed by a more rapid decline as the cancer metastases and spreads until no health tissue remains.

    Of course, the final chapter is yet to be written. Whether the final fall will be by civil war, external invasion, or economic collapse, I cannot say. My crystal ball is silent on these details.

    To bring it back to the topic of this blog, clearly, the toxic politics of California metastasized into Nevada with the big city of Las Vegas (Sin City) being a natural location for the formation of a new cancer tumor. The anti-gun politics, noted in the linked article above, are simply the result when the hive-mind of the Left finds a footing.

    As I said, none of this is surprising.

    • I almost wish that the Supreme Court never addressed Bruen. It’s kind of like what happened when Trump beat Clinton in 2016. The left went bonkers, and reacted violently to punish conservatives for taking the presidency away from Hillary.

      Same thing with Bruen. The left has gone bonkers again, and has shifted into overdrive to punish law abiding gun owners for this ruling.

      • “I almost wish that the Supreme Court never addressed Bruen.”

        It is true that the left “has gone bonkers again” as you put it. The comparison with the 2016 Presidential Election is a good one.

        However, I disagree with the idea that we need to “play nice” with the Left in the hopes that these nutjobs will remain calm and refrain from going “bonkers” all the time.

        History teaches us that you cannot appease tyrants. The WW II example of Prime Minister Chamberlain and Hitler illustrates this basic truth as well as anything. If you “play nice” with the Left (as so, so, so, many RINO’s do), then it only encourages them to do their worst. To use an old saying:

        “If you give the Left an inch, then they will take a mile.”

        The Left has grown strong feeding on our weakness. Enough is enough! It is time to strike back at these totalitarian SOB’s (pardon my French!). Show them that the People will no longer roll over and appease their every desire in a foolish attempt to “Buy Peace” with appeasement.

        If the Left then goes “bonkers” and foams at the mouth and howls at the moon, so be it! I am refreshed by their tears! 🙂

        Who knows! If the cities die fast enough, the cancer may eat itself before it can consume all remaining healthy tissue. It may be that, for America to live, the hive cities must die!

        You know, it was a staple of science fiction to assume that the fall of the cities would result in a wave of barbarism. We have all seen the “Road Warrior” movies where the rural areas revert to barbarism when the cities are destroyed in a nuclear war. However, would that be true?

        I rather think that the opposite would be true. The cities are tumors where the poisonous left-wing ideology and hive-mentality flourish. If the cities were “bombed back to the Stone Age”, the perverted ideas of the Left would be set way back. The tumor cities would be “cured” by a strong dose of “Radiation Therapy”. 🙂

        Would be rural area then revert to barbarism? Or, instead, would the People gain a new sense of independence and a return to God and his teachings?

        Instead of the “Road Warrior” model for the post-nuclear World, it might be the “Amish Model” instead!

        It is all speculation, of course. What do you think?

      • Mas, I know you’re all buddy-buddy with LV Metro, but they are one of the most violent, trigger happy, and corrupt agencies in the country.

        Your experience as a tourist does not match that of residents.

  7. As an addendum to my comment, above, here is a story illustrating another facet of hive poisoning. See this news report.

    https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/bostons-plan-to-convert-empty-office-buildings-into-housing-faces-challenges-090052124.html

    Business is fleeing the self-created toxic hive environments of the Left. The Left’s Solution: Turn office space into ordinary rental housing.

    My Question: If the jobs are gone, who would live there? Is it housing for the Left’s base (illegals, druggies, prostitutes, street hoods, and various other perverts and malcontents)?

    I guess the Left need to do something for its base. The left needs their votes and needs them as foot soldiers. It probably can’t get by on ballot harvesting alone.

    On second thought, I approve this idea. It gives the border States somewhere to ship the illegals that are flooding over daily. They can be transported to Leftist Cities and used to re-populate the decaying hives! 🙂 (That was sarcasm, folks! – I am not a fascist like some that I could name.)

    • In Massachusetts, Governor Healey and Attorney General Andrea “Most of My Family is in Jail” Campbell, has pushed dense urban zoning on single family suburbs, which has spread all of the urban problems of graffiti, litter, crime, noise and dysfunction to the middle class world. That, coupled with a push for the most draconian gun control laws anywhere in the country, will insure that there will be no escape from Democrat messes that they sow with reckless abandon in the cities that they control.

      • Susan Tradow,

        Thanks for sharing that. I was wondering when the Democrat-created city problems would reach the suburbs. I guess it is beginning to happen. That may be a tipping point. I believe America might change, and Patriots might stand up, when the following scene becomes reality;

        Suburban wife to husband: Honey, we need new curtains.

        Husband: But dearest, if we buy new drapery, we won’t have enough money to send Fauntleroy to Harvard.

        Wife: What? Then something must be done!

        Husband resolves to make changes so that normal suburban life can return to the way it has been since the 1920s.

        I am reminded of listening to talk radio host Bob Grant in the 1990s. He was lamenting that America was committing suicide. He noted that no foreign enemy was bringing us down, we were doing it to ourselves. Sad.

        “It’s sick out there, and getting sicker!!!” — Bob Grant, WABC radio in NYC

        I also live in the suburbs, and life is still normal. I know I live in a bubble, and I know the only constant is change, so . . . . . . . . . . . . . change is coming. I am as prepared as my budget will allow.

  8. I don’t like big cities either, this is one of the worst I’ve ever been. BUT, uncle Mas, there is always Laughlin on the Colorado River (also policed by Metro) which is 45 mins or so from where I live in AZ, across from Bullhead City, and much more laid back. So, come there instead, give me a heads up and ? on me!

  9. Unfortunately, the ‘private property’ excuse is valid. We need to talk with our feet…

  10. I am curious what the narrative will be when some psycho, or a group of psychos, walks into a lobby during a convention and performs a few mag dumps before leaving. No one could stop tje attack except for a few surprised and overwhelmed security guards who might even be the first targets.

    Lotd, have mercy.

    • You know what the narrative will be:

      “We NEED more Gun Control NOW! No one NEEDS to own an evil Assault Weapon. Ban them ALL now. Arrest any Gun Owner who dares to protest our LIFE SAVING Firearms-Prohibition Measures! Shut down the NRA and all other Pro-2A Groups. Silence them! Shut down the Firearm’s Industry with frivolous lawsuits.”

      Rinse, Wash and Repeat!

      The Gun Grabbers have great experience at turning their FAILURES into new OPPORTUNITIES to advance their Prohibition Agenda. Turning lemons into their anti-gun lemonade is SOP for them. Especially with their media propagandists reinforcing their Prohibition Agenda 24/7/365.

  11. There really is almost no place else that can hold SHOT.
    I enjoyed it back in the days, when it moved from city to city each year, New orleans, St Lou, Orlando, but it just grew too big.
    The last year they had it in Orlando, they had dealers in small side rooms, that were hard to find, and all the vendors bitched. Orlando now could handle SHOT, but.. the parking sucks really bad,and you almost have to have a car there and there is no range that could handle Industry day.
    I did the show for 35 years, and saw it grow from little to HUGE, I figured when Covid hit, it would scale it back, but seeing this year, I guess not.
    For half the companies I worked for, SHOT was just a money drain, specially after they started really restricting who could come,
    you use to be able to “badge in”, then they required letterhead that you were a buyer,
    that cut back on a lot of LE/mil.
    I am out of the bizz now, and will not ever return to LV again, I had some great times, and built up some fantastic experiences, but come January each year now, I am thankful I am not on a plane to sin City.

  12. They don’t like us, we don’t like them. Move the SHOT show around the country like the NRA show. Red states only, red cities only (ie: not Austin) and I’m a Texan, born and bred.

  13. “Las Vegas casinos continue to ban firearms from their properties and enforce these bans with private security” and that “room searches are also becoming the norm,”

    Well, their property, they can do this. My life, I can go elsewhere. A shame it has come to this; there are many other places for my family and I to visit.

    We see what they are doing.

    • Gun owners are the new Kulaks. If people took the time to read the history surrounding communist revolutions in China, Cambodia, and Russia, they would be seriously alarmed at what is going on in the US.

      Alas, most people are too fixated on celebrities, sports teams, and entertainment to realize what is going on.

    • Seems to me (but then, WHO am I, anyway?) that when I rent a piece of property that place becomes MY home, no longr controllable by the landlord. When I rent a house, it is MY house until I leve, MY rules, MY policies. I can see why they might wnt to ban guns from the gaming areas, but that’s stupid on its face.All the free security against an evil intruder is now gone. Their own uniformed goon squads will be the first to be taken out. Some film I saw a few years ago portrayed that rather well. The fact that their goon squads invade by force the spaces their guests” occupy per the terms of the rental agreement is quite scary. I happen to have a relative in that city, but have not been there since I was a teenager travelling through with family. Don’t miss it one bit.

  15. I’ve always wanted to attend SHOT. No longer. Not unless it moves somewhere that actually welcomes us. If there really isn’t an alternative venue that welcomes us, that should be a huge business incentive to an entrepreneur. Seriously, if I wanted to pursue this, who runs SHOT? Who exactly should I try to contact? And, if you were going to put it someplace other than Vegas, where would you pick? Rough estimate, how many people are we talking about hotel-izing on this endeavor?

    • AM,

      Donald Trump could solve this problem, and so could Donald, Jr., Eric and Ivanka. I used to be against Ivanka, but I read she has repented of her anti-Freedom, anti-American views, just like her Father repented. No more “New York values” for the Trumps. Hallelujah!

  16. Since when is ‘We get to search your room any time we feel like it for any reason we want, including the results of electronic searches that would be prohibited for government, and we don’t have to tell you why’ part of a hotel contract?

    I’ve long held that big business can be far more totalitarian than any government in a constitutionally limited republic. Behavior like this deserves a big ‘Goodbye. I’m never coming back, and I’ll be sure to tell my friends.’

    If the show really does generate over $200,000,000 in revenue the promoters should damn well use their clout to end this behavior.

    • I can only guess, but just because you are renting a room, the hotel still owns it, and it would seem like they have the right to enter the room if they have a reasonable suspicion that you are in violation of certain rules, such as a report of a barking dog, in a no pets allowed hotel, etc.
      The same for smoke reported or too many guests, or contraband that the hotel lists as not allowed, such as extra bedding or for whatever reason, guns and you are seen with several rifle cases. The bedding in some places due to insect problems, the rifles due to the owners hoplophobia. Just like a bakery doesn’t have to bake a cake for a gay wedding, due to religious beliefs, it could be a case of the same thing with the hotel owners and self defense. The Quakers are pacifists, although I am familiar with many religious groups, I never studied them, so I can’t say if it would go to that extreme.
      I don’t support anyone who tries to infringe on our freedom, I only meant to point out that things are not always as black and white as they seem. And of course the hotel owners can’t just come and go as they please. You have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and notice if they are planning on entering or searching your room. But the owners of the hotel are not the government, and while there are laws that apply to them, the Constitution was written as a document to control the government. So the Bill of Rights is not a set of carved in stone laws for business. Some may apply due to either natural human rights or to laws passed.
      I am not eligible to attend SHOT, but if Vegas is becoming a bad fit, then the event may have to move plus revamp some to work in it’s new venue. But the world itself is changing, the way the firearms business is working is not the same as it was just 25 years ago. Instead of one huge SHOT Show, the industry may need to run 2, one in the spring and one in the fall. Innovation has always driven the gun industry forward and given us the best products ever made, for the lowest price, at this very moment, nostalgia for the good old days not holding up to facts. No doubt they will weather this as well and come out better off in the end.

      • Pigpen51,

        Just want to riff on your reference to pacifists. I have a little familiarity with Amish and Mennonites. I was surprised to learn that yes, they are pacifists, but avid hunters. I guess the Amish must go on hunting trips with the Mennonites driving them to the woods. I remember being in a department store in East Earl, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where they sold long gun ammunition, but not handgun ammunition. I believe it was the Goods Store, next to “The Shady Maple Farm Market.”

        To all, if my information is wrong, please correct me.

      • Visited a long time friend in Ohio some years back.He knows and is good friends with lots of Amish and a number of Mennonites. They respect each otehr a lot.
        I had recently acquired a small deep carry gun in 9 short, but where I live the ammunition shrtages had raised prices to scary levels, and were in shir supply. Friend took me to am Amish store on a farm. He had a gun store as part of his general store. All the 380 ammo I wanted to buy was mine for the paying, and the price was what my local stores had three years prior. Guns long, short, shot. And an abndance of the fodder to feed them. I bought as much ammo as I could get off with carrying in my checked baggage on the aereoplane. They had FMJ ball and defensive JHP.

    • They don’t need to ban guns. They can just make it impossible for anyone to carry. Massachusetts is trying to pass a law mandating written permission for anyone to carry on private property. Whereas in the past, anyone caught carrying on private property where carry was not allowed, was just asked to leave, that activity now makes you a prohibited person. The police confiscate your guns, storing them in a bonded warehouse, where within days, the bond fees exceed the value of your property.

    • Handguns in hotel rooms in Las Vegas have long been free game to whoever had access when the renter was absent. I knew a woman who lost a small .25 ACP automatic from her hotel room in 1982. Does seem like yesterday to me, though. Streets in certain areas of the town have also been at the pinnacle of insecurity. One guy I knew made the mistake of driving a pickup truck that broke down. A group of thugs beat the crap out of him and robbed him of his last cent. Not exactly the land of Good Samaritans! The most dubious form of informal economy, where numerous urban predators freely form roving groups of impromptu revenue collectors.

  17. I ‘vote’ with my wallet.
    I think it is time the SHOT Show does the same and cancels all future events in Las Vegas.
    I think that either Dallas or Orlando would be much better locations.

  18. Wow! Just… wow. Guess I won’t be staying in Las Vegas anymore either. Oh well… C’est la vie.

  19. I agree with all the comments above, except dissing the cops. I too am losing my admiration for cops, but it is not their fault. They are working as part of the corrupt legal system, and their hands are tied. For me the ideal cop is Dirty Harry. The Left seems to like Barney Fife or The Keystone Cops.

    I am afraid of Evolv Technology. I knew that was coming, and I have always feared it. If it becomes inexpensive, it may spell the end for concealed carry. Every store could x-ray every customer, to see if they are armed.

    I’m trying to think of ways to prevent Communists from living in Patriot strongholds, but I can’t think of anything legal.

  20. Time to bring the SHOT Show back to Orlando….
    especially now that the Governor has passed the
    law you need no permit to carry concealed…..

    You can have Vegas too, as far as this writer is concerned…
    Cheers form Orlando, Paul

    • Have DeSantis build a massive convention complex that specifically caters to SHOT. Hotels of all levels, massive event spaces, restaurants, ranges, etc, and sell it to SHOT, the NRA, and any other firearm-related gathering. $200 million in annual revenue might provide enough motivation to set something up, and take that business away from Vegas.

      • nice idea, but that is NOT within the bailiwick of an executive branch office holder. Unless he uses his own money. Maybe Trumo, hvng fled Noo Yawk, could consuder such a persnal venture. It would be a far better investment than the legal fees for all his recent lawsuits. Defense agains t corruptocrats trying to bury him or shut him out

  21. TN-MAN wrote:
    America’s last expansion was in 1959. The decline began in 1960.’

    How do you think the US should expand?

    • nicholas kane,

      Your question was addressed to TN_MAN, and I eagerly await his reply, but I am going to jump in here, because I have a big mouth, and I like to talk a lot. Here, of course, I let my fingers do the talking.

      Pat Buchanan believes America wrongly embarked on a path of empire (a la Great Britain), in the year 1898. That is when we entered a war between Spain and her colonies. We said to the colonies, the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico, “Hey, let us help you in your fight for freedom against Spain.” So, we entered the Spanish American War, and instead of those countries becoming independent, like we were, they became colonies of the USA. Their old boss was Spain. Their new boss was Uncle Sam. The Philippines wanted independence, but we told them they needed to be ruled by white men, and sent the Marines to put down their rebellion against us, the US.

      In my opinion, we didn’t need to expand like that. That is when America ceased being a Republic, and became an Empire. If I was a Native American, I would believe Europeans should have stayed in Europe. It was probably OK to trade, and share, not push, the Gospel with Indians, or Native Americans, but for them, it would have been better if Mighty Whitey had stayed in Europe. Oh well, who wants to live in a wigwam? As Rush Limbaugh said, they, white men, created a great country. But, they did it using force, and that was wrong. This country was partially built on the backs of the Indians, and African slaves, as Malcolm X pointed out.

      Ideally, I would like to see America stop policing the world. Merchant ships should be free to arm themselves against pirates. We don’t need the US Navy fighting pirates, unless they become too powerful for armed merchant ships. Ideally, the US government should have nothing to do with international trade. Let businessmen work things out on their own. If some grievous harm is done to us by another country’s government, or their businessmen, then I could see our government getting involved to solve an extraordinary problem. I am for small government, but when government is needed, it should intervene, like a referee.

      I would like us to keep all our nukes, and even expand them, but shrink our military down to a size where we could only defend the 50 states. I would bring all of the troops home from all the foreign countries, even South Korea. The world would go to war, but we would not fight, except in self-defense. Our industries could sell arms to belligerent nations, and we could sit back and make money while those stupid nations killed their own young men. I acknowledge that allies need help, and I acknowledge that American intervention has been good, even very good, for the world. But, American intervention is not the ideal. I strive for the ideal, even though I know it is unattainable. George Washington said, “Avoid foreign entanglements.”

      nicholas kane, I think your own country, the United Kingdom, has done a very good job of contracting. The UK is still a nice place to live, even though the empire is gone. To me, both the Roman Catholic Church, and Great Britain, have done more good than harm in the world. Perfection does not exist in this world. There were greedy scoundrels in the past, and there are plenty of greedy scoundrels around today.

      The above are my opinions. All readers are welcome to differ with me. I believe in tolerating everyone except criminals and tyrants.

      America is still a great nation, and a wonderful place to live. The proof of that is to look at where peoples’ feet are. Their feet are either in America, or nations with living standards similar to America, or their feet wish they were in places where the living standards are similar to the USA. But, I would rather live in a good nation than a great nation. “Goodness” meaning virtue, “greatness” meaning wealth, invention, accomplishment, and generally overblown everything. Everything to the MAX, that’s “greatness.”

    • I would like to see the American leftist anti-gun crowd immigrate to parts of the UK, but only where they would be welcome. Maybe polls could be taken in advance.

    • @ nicholas kane – “How do you think the US should expand?”

      I made no argument for new US expansion. I was merely making an observation. It seems a law of Nature, and of Politics, that when life-forms (or empires) stop growing, then they begin to die. In terms of Empires, the Western Roman Empire is a good example. As a Republic, it grew and prospered for centuries. Once it became an Empire, the seeds of its fall were planted. Even so, under active Emperors, it grew in fits and starts for a couple more centuries. The construction of Hadrian’s Wall (AD 122) is one sign, among many, of Rome’s stagnation. The growth stopped, pretty much, by the 3rd Century followed by a rapid decline and fall in the 5th Century.

      The U.S. used various means to acquire territory for expansion. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 about doubled the size of the country. Alaska was also “purchased” in 1867. In other cases, colonization followed by annexation was used. Both Florida and Texas were (basically) acquired by this method. When the US annexed Texas, it caused “bad blood” with Mexico leading to the US-Mexico War of 1847. Mexico would have been advised to let Texas go quietly since Texas had already won its independence in 1836.

      Despite Roger Willco’s point about the Spanish-America War being America’s first step toward empire, I would point out that the War with Mexico was also, in the end, a War of Conquest with the entire American Southwest being “annexed” as a result of the American Victory.

      Hawaii was a version of colonization and then annexation with an American-inspired “Coup” thrown in for good measure.

      Nevertheless, all of these territories were gradually incorporated as States with Alaska and Hawaii being added in 1959. Our last real expansion as I noted in my earlier comment.

      The US still has territories that could be eligible for Statehood. In 1976, then President Gerald Ford proposed adding Puerto Rico as a State. The proposal died in Congress. The Democrats still talk about this issue but, in their case, they see Puerto Rico as a pawn that they can use to expand their control of the Senate.

      During the 20th Century, the US (like the British Empire before it) sought to establish military bases, Worldwide, as a means to project military power. However, none of these bases are there for purposes of territorial expansion. It is mere power projection caused by the US desire to be a “Super-Power” and to be the “Policeman of the World”.

      All of which is, increasingly, seen more as a “Fool’s Errand”.

      In summary, I was merely noting that the US has stagnated and is in decline. I make no moral judgments about it. It is just a fact of “Real Politics”.

      This decline is distressing to U.S. Citizens since these type of declines are always accompanied by “Moral Rot”. However, “Moral Rot” is an internal problem exacerbated, in the US, by the obscene, narcissistic and humanistic left-wing ideology. It will only be solved by the People turning away from humanistic self-worship and turning back to God.

      To use a comparison, a drunkard has to acknowledge his or her problem and develop the “strength of Will” to deal with it. A drunkard cannot be reformed externally. The change must come from an internal “Change of Heart”. Only the American People can reverse their rot and decline. Given the indoctrination and propaganda tools of the Left, that is a steep mountain to climb. However, my view is that, when we have sunk low enough, there will be no option but to start climbing.

  23. Casino ashoes not withstanding, NV law only has trespass enforcement. I am just a random guy, not a high profile gun guru so the rules may be different for you guys.

  24. An overreaction to the horrible Las Vegas hotel active shooter perhaps? Is there a danger this could spread to hotels in other cities?

    Are there any hotels in Las Vegas that don’t do this? If so, it might be worthwhile to spread the word:
    1. To give the good guys more business
    2. To give the bad guys less business
    3. So that people who choose to stay with the bad guys thinking they’ll be safer with such a policy will more likely have a crime committed against them in the hotel.

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