If you accept that its reasonable to regulate some of these other things, I think its reasonable to require that drinking water be made available. I seriously doubt that the expense would be prohibitive. Most good bars give out free coke and water to people who have been drinking anyway.

Some of the rules I don't like. No smoking in California and NYC for instance.. But that battle has clearly been lost. I can live with it, up until the point I get lung cancer and die.

There are a number of regulations on the books that are damn important and have seriously positive effects, but are very easy to overlook. Aside from when Great White recently killed a hundred people with their pyrotechnics, we have not had a mass of people die in a venue for a long time. That's no small thing, and it comes down to simple things like fire codes that govern which way doors swing, how many exists must be present and how they can be locked, occupancy limits, building materials, etc. Minor stuff, but its regulated, and it stops disasters from happening and saves lives. There are specific cases where its abused, but they can usually be addressed.

The key thing is that legislation that protects safety should ensure rights, not eradicate them. As long as we can continue to assemble, I don't have a problem with taking steps to ensure we assemble safely. I have a big problem with the call for safety being abused to push through laws that limit rights and target specific communities.

It should be noted that legislation is not the only answer to the problem. Venues and shows must be insured. Try to insure a show with 1000+ people without having security and medical personnel on hand...

Insurance companies are also part of the problem. Try organizing a rap show sometime... Due to the violence that has occurred at rap shows, the insurance rates are incredibly high. Its why you don't see many of them. They are almost impossible to organize without some hardcore backing.

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