At the 2024 SHOT Show a significant change was not widely announced. No more free self-parking at the Venetian and Palazzo hotels, part of the Convention Center. For years, perhaps decades, the parking at the Venetian and Palazzo was free. Parking is always something to be considered in busy downtown Las Vegas. When this correspondent first learned of the free parking, it was a tremendous improvement in covering the SHOT Show. From the free parking in the underground of the Palazzo, it wasn’t far to an elevator which delivered you to the Palazzo Casino, then about a quarter mile walk, all indoors, to the SHOT Show and the Press (Media) room.
This correspondent has stayed at the Venetian a couple of times, thanks to the generosity of AmmoLand. Staying in one of the hotels is even more convenient. Both hotel guests and non-guest attendees have to pay the parking fees, which are, for downtown Las Vegas, a modest $15 a day for hotel guests, and $15 for up to four hours for others, or $18 for 24 hours, maximum. From Fox5Vegas.com:
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Joining a host of other resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, the Venetian resort is ending free self-parking.
On August 29, 2023, paid self-parking will go into effect at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas for non-registered hotel guests (visitors). Self-parking fees for registered hotel guests will begin on September 5, for those who booked on or after August 24, 2023.
The ticket issued when you enter the parking garage contains a QR code. The fee has to be paid for you to leave. The ticket is scanned again when you leave. One of the questionable practices is, as the sign in the picture says: NO CASH ACCEPTED. Legal Tender law:
Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?
There is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise.
Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled “Legal tender,” states: “United States coins and currency [including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve Banks and national banks] are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.” This statute means that all U.S. money as identified above is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor.
If a person makes a legal offer to pay a debt, and the offer is refused, is the debt valid? This correspondent is not a lawyer. An aversion to the creeping requirement to use digital money, combined with difficulty in obtaining anonymous digital money, prompted notice of the sign. A requirement to use trackable digital money means we, and are affairs, are all recorded, tracked, and available to potential tyrants.
In practice, the payment for parking system ran smoothly, without a hitch. It only requires you give up significant privacy to merely exist in today’s society. One of the attractions of bitcoin and other such currencies is potential anonymity. It would not be hard to have anonymous money in the United States. Credit card companies could sell pre-paid debit cards for cash. Such cards need to be registered to an individual. Instruments which are not registered are increasingly difficult to find and use.
On a lighthearted note, the Brady urinal strainers are still in use at the SHOT Show.
From a previous AmmoLand article:
It is just an unfortunate coincidence that an unrelated company, Brady Industries, produces the mats and many other cleaning supplies for the Western United States. From bradyindustries.com:
Brady Industries is the premier cleaning solutions provider throughout the Western United States. We provide cleaning solutions to our customers while exceeding their expectations with quality, service, and integrity.
It is a pleasant improbability a Second Amendment culture warrior made the choice to place Brady Urinal screens in the urinals at SHOT Show for several years. It is a mild surprise no images of President Biden appeared in the SHOT Show urinals.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
2022 was my last, and final, SHOT show. Not because of the show but because of Las Vegas. Everything is so overpriced it’s ridiculous. $15 parking is actually cheep, It’s $23 per visit at Caesar’s. The outlying casinos have stopped their shuttles and tell you to use Uber. Concert and show tickets are at Super Bowl ticket prices because they allow bots to buy and sell them several times before the general public has any chance to purchase them. Food is now stupid pricey in order to pay the unionized waiters. And they still want you to tip 20%. I’m… Read more »
Cashless is being shoved down our throats.
There is a popular restaurant here in the Houston area that will not take cash at all. They are trying to force you to use their phone based app to pay for meals, even those that are dine in.
This will lead to more complete control as every transaction is fully tracked and taxed automatically.
The decreasing acceptance of cash is appalling and leads to a cashless system which is far too easily abused by corporations and government.
I remember when HILLARY was the subject of the urinals. On another note it appears that the city of Las Vegas and their constituents want migrate away from expos and conventions. Clearly, they have embraced professional sports. In 2022, the bus route #1 three casinos were eliminated Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Excaliber causing the attendees to have to walk approximately 1/4 mile to catch the bus at the Tropicana (a doable thing). This year 2024, the Route #1 eliminated the Tropicana forcing the attendees to walk a mile to the other side of the MGM Grand parking garage. Me being 75+… Read more »
Fear not, Dean. The Feds have us well in control. I just read where the TSA has installed facial recognition units in several hundred airports.
Now, where did I put those Groucho glasses…?
I was born and raised in NV, and lived in LV for 55 years. Went to SHOT many times. Slowly but surely the prices, taxes, and ad-ons are killing the place. As usual, the politicians and corporate bean counters think the golden goose can be squeezed forever. Back in the Rat Pack days, the casinos and bars made the money, and the rest was break-even or bare minimum profit. Even Covid taught them nothing.
I laugh every time I hear about someone using Blockchain currency because it’s supposedly anonymous, when in fact it only works because it’s absolutely and permanently traceable.
Another government lie? On the Federal Scrip, it says, “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private”. Does not that at least imply, in this country, an obligation for all to accept it in payment?
Now I know with 100% certainty that I will never visit Vegas again! I’ve been there only a few times, and never to throw away my hard earned money on rigged up “games” that are really just scams.
Sorry Dean, the strip is not down town and never was.