Any update CapnGeo?
Interested to hear if the Sarasota Sheriff's Office or attorney's office responded.
While reading through this, I have been thinking long and hard about my own interpretation of Comedy Club as bar. I've been the WPB Improv, and the physical setup is such that, to enter the premises and arrive at your destined seat in the I'll call it "auditorium" you must enter a very long somewhat narrow room best described as the Ticket center. Then, through that door at the far end of the room towards the left, you enter another Room/Area that is huge and is mostly walking area with the "bar" portion of the club with some seating along the wall to the right. It is separated from a huuuuuge "auditorium" broken up into what I'd class as 2 "rooms" by a "barrier" which is not quite hip-high and can't truly be called a wall.
Thus, the place where seating and viewing the show on stage is essentially the same "room" as the "bar", although separated by quite a distance and by a not-a-wall.
Here's my first question. Since Comedy Clubs, in virtually any city, by my experience, charge for the first 2 alcoholic beverages in their "cover charge 'for the show'", whether or not you actually choose to consume that alcohol, wouldn't every single person sitting in the "auditorium" portion of that establishment therefore qualify as a "bar patron" and not necessarily fall under "restaurant patron" or "entertainment only patron"? Does that distinction have any bearing whatsoever on the conversation?
Second question: Is the distinction between "dispense" and "serve" really a distinction? If I mentally apply the term to a medical establishment rather than one that serves alcohol, in my own mind it seems that The Doctor's Office or "The Hospital" would in their entirety define a place that dispenses medical supplies/services, and would not reasonably be limited to only that closet within the real estate occupied by the hospital or the doctor's office where those medical supplies get stored or removed from their boxes. The fact that a person carries supplies from that closet to the outer room to "distribute" or "serve" them to the populace doesn't somehow make that second room less a part of the medical establishment. No idea how this thinking relates, it just seems like trying to establish what portion of "bar" isn't a "bar" a mighty blurry exercise.
Third question: It appears to me the statute is attempting to make concealed carry something you can't do where you'd go to get drunk, while permitting you to carry in places where alcohol happens to be served. The distinction problem seems to be, what happens if you go to an Applebees to have dinner in the 'restaurant', but to gain access to lavatory you must walk through the 'bar'? Seems to me all the major chains design their restaurants where the bar portion is a major feature, not some hidden alter-ego room accessible by a different door and totally separate from the restaurant and bathrooms. Here's the question: there's a local place called Swampgrass Willie's that is perhaps best described as a "bar" - it is a place that serves drinks, serves alcohol, provides gaming options (video poker, poker nights, pool tables, air hockey) and at least 3 nights a week, live entertainment. They also serve food. Food is not their primary business, not by a long shot. However, there are plenty of tables set back from the bar where folks go to eat, talk, play cards. Does the table area of this establishment qualify for legal concealed carry?
Question 4: Another place not far from me is Howley's, which has recently been reviewed and blogged about quite a bit for instituting special micro-brew nights. It's a diner, "primarily", but alcohol is not served in one area specifically as opposed to others. Does the fact that it is now touting itself as a premier beer and wine lover locale make it a "bar" now and therefore not a legal place for folks to carry?
