Venetian, Palazzo in Legal Dispute over Gun Store on the Strip

Lawyers at the Venetian and the Palazzo hotels are arguing over the controversial decision to add a Beretta gun shop on the Strip.

We hope you caught the article we posted yesterday, because it will make everything a lot clearer. For those of you who missed out, the Palazzo wants to open up a gun range and a gun shop. Attorneys for the Venetian, a neighboring resort, aren’t thrilled about the idea.

Fred Kraus, the Venetian vice president and general counsel, warned the Planning Commission that putting a gun store inside of a casino is “a tragedy waiting to happen.” We’ll take a moment to let the irony of a casino making that claim settle in for a few moments.

Kraus fears that a disgruntled or drunk gambler will buy a gun and use the gambling floor as a shooting range. He also argues that a gun store will be out of place in the Shoppes.

Greg Borgel, who represented Beretta, couldn’t disagree more. He reminded them that a single Beretta shotgun could sell for as much as $200,000, and a similar high-end Beretta outlet has been flourishing in New York’s Madison Avenue.

The Planning Commission sided with Beretta and the Palazzo. Sources indicate that the Venetian plans to appeal and go above their heads to the Clark County Commission, but they’re going to have to hope for a dramatically different ruling.

Only one member of the Planning Commission, Greg Esposito, voted in favor of the Venetian, and he didn’t do it for the reasons you might think. Esposito was concerned that gun owners would start walking into the Palazzo with their own guns under the assumption that they’d be able to use the shooting ranges. Just be clear, don’t even try to do that.