As usual, consult with a qualified attorney, which I am not. My opinion: Bell County Comic Con is held at Huntington Bank Expo which is publicly owned by Bell County, Texas. Threatening police action against
@reggiegrande if the only reason he's being excluded is he criticized one of the vendors might be violating his rights. While hosting an event at a government-owned center does not automatically make it a public forum, the reason for the ban matters, I believe. Is it safety? Were there any threats made? Then that's event management. Is it simply because of criticism? Then, it can become a viewpoint-based ban. Assuming there were no threats made, then the question becomes whether the government was being enlisted to enforce the viewpoint-based ban on public property. In my opinion, if they had just said, you're not permitted to enter, that'd be one thing, but adding "and you'll be arrested" raises the specter of police action, raising First Amendment concerns that would not otherwise be present if it were held on private property, although public accommodations laws might still come into play if the ban were otherwise based on race, religion or sex, etc.