Monac
Member
Not if you pay a fee to enter. It might be public property but it's a private event. Just like you can't take professional photography/videography cameras into concerts at publicly owned venues.
I can see the sign about residents for IL serving two purposes: 1) limit liability for being sued by the state of IL for selling firearms to IL residents, and 2) eliminate time wasted serving a potential customer that you're not going to sell to.
I agree with your points about photography completely, and I have no objection to whatever policy the event-holder or even the site-owner makes. A table holder claiming that their policy was backed up by Federal law was surprising to me, though.
But the state of Illinois can sue somebody for selling a gun to an Illinois resident? And if, as an FFL you want to let people know when you cannot sell to them, you would not just say "Nobody from Illinois", you say "Nobody except residents of the state we are in right now or FFLs or CRFLs". I did not get why Illinois was being singled out, unless things are even weirder there than in New Jersey or California. Maybe they are.