Norwood man learns license to carry a gun not a license to put a gun to a guy's head and threaten to blow it off

A suburbanite who thought another patron at Venu on Warrenton Street had stolen his girlfriend's purse went to his car, got his gun, went back inside the club and then, after punching the guy in the face twice, put the gun to the man's head and threatened to kill him, police and the club's head of security told the Boston Licensing Board this morning.

According to the police account, club bouncers promptly pinned the man against a wall until officers could sprint from across the street - where they were parked as part of a routine closing-hour patrol early on the morning of April 24. After the officers removed a 9-mm gun from the man's waistband, they let him get his gun license out of his wallet.

Male patrons at Venu are routinely patted down before entering the club. Club officials said what happened in this case was that the man left and then returned a few moments later and told the doorman he only wanted to go back inside because he had forgotten to close his bar tab; instead, once inside, he headed straight for a stairway and the other man. The doorman, who had just watched him leave let him back inside; the "patdown guys" who normally would have patted him down had left to help shut down the rest of the club. Club officials said they have since changed that policy; all doors will be fully staffed until nobody is left inside.

"I have a personal stake in it," the security director said. "The gun could be to my head."

In contrast to an incident at the Bar Room, police praised the club for its cooperation.

The licensing board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take related to the incident.