On Sept. 14 and 15, thousands will head for the Pima County Fairgrounds, as Crossroads of the West hosts its third gun show of the year. There will be some 375 tables loaded with handguns, semi-automatics and other weaponry available for purchase. But there won’t be any metal detectors, surveillance cameras or much of a law enforcement presence. And, most disturbing of all, there won’t be any background checks for a great many of the guns that get sold there.

While most of those paying the $12 entry fee will be law-abiding folks looking for good deals, it’s a known fact that nationwide the “gun show loophole”—from 25 percent to 50 percent of the sellers are private parties and can legally sell without background checks—attracts dangerous buyers. Which means that in the second weekend in September, it will be easier for a felon, a domestic abuser or a seriously mentally ill person to buy an AR-15 at the Pima County Fairgrounds than it would be for me to get into a City Council meeting, where I have to go through a metal detector and empty my purse. For that matter, it will be easier to buy a dozen semi-automatic weapons that weekend than it would be for you to volunteer this fall at your grandchild’s school, where fingerprinting and background checks are required by state law.

Gun shows are a risky business in Arizona, where gun violence outpaces the rate in most other states, drug cartels terrorize the border and government oversight is next to nil. So why wouldn’t Pima County government be interested in doing everything possible to cut down on illegal gun sales that occur on public property?

That’s a question three of us in a local group called the Tucson Committee Against Gun Violence, or TCAGV, set out to discover last March. Our group was formed in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, where 20 first-graders and six staff members were riddled with bullets from semi-automatic weapons with high-capacity magazines. From the beginning, TCAGV’s agenda has mirrored the national legislation put forward after the tragedy in Connecticut: universal background checks; harsher punishment for gun trafficking; and a ban on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines that were designed for killing human beings in military combat.

As we all know, not one gun safety law made it out of Congress. Like many Americans, our group had been optimistic that Sandy Hook would break the disturbing NRA stranglehold on politicians: God forbid any elected official should ever lose a child to such horrific violence.

We were heartened when the city of South Tucson supported gun safety laws, and the city of Tucson got out of the gun show business. That’s when we set up appointments with county supervisors Richard Elías and Ramón Valadez (chairman of the Board of Supervisors), hopeful that the county would feel responsible for making the sale of weapons on public property as safe as possible. While both supervisors were sympathetic, neither believed there was anything he could do: the county was trumped by state law. We were directed to the Southwestern Fair Commission, an appointed body that supposedly oversees the management of the fairgrounds.

In May, we emailed questions to the commission via Jon Baker, director of the nonprofit that manages the fairgrounds for the county. After receiving no response, we attended the commission’s June meeting to ask them in person: How much does the county make from gun shows? How many sellers are private? How much security do you have? What can you do to make gun shows safer? How can you cut down on illegal sales in the unpatrolled parking lot? They considered our questions to be “political,” and referred us back to the Board of Supervisors.

We sent letters to all of the supervisors, hoping the other three might weigh in on keeping guns out of dangerous hands. They did not. Finally, we tried to get answers from County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. Again, no success.

If the “gun show loophole” prevents our county supervisors from stopping illegal gun sales and ensuring community safety, perhaps it’s time for them to get out of this risky business once and for all. We plan on bringing up our questions at the Sept. 10 board meeting. At the very least, we need them to weigh in on national gun control legislation. After Sandy Hook, 90 percent of all Americans polled said they believe Second Amendment rights went hand in hand with universal background checks. Let’s be sure our elected officials have not forgotten: Call the board members at 740-8126.

This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2013.

14 replies on “Guest Commentary”

  1. Dear Molly, your “well-known” facts are a bunch of bull-crap. Maybe if you would shell out the twelve bucks and see what goes on at a gun show and observe the procedures involved in the sale of firearms you may become a better informed than the rantings of the anti-gun folks. Most gun shows have about a dozen or so “private sellers.” Very few folks pay any attention to them. Personally, I do not trust them to be selling either an fully operable or legal weapon. Some shows I have attended over the past several years, these private sellers were questioned by law enforcement officers.
    Your closing comment about 90% of all Americans is a false claim, 90% of the cherry picked respondents to the question responded as indicated. Then a statistician inferred the results across the population in an attempt to sway politicians. The real numbers taken by several other pollsters across a wider cross-section came up with 20-28%. The facts have been skewed by the anti-gun movement and are not verifiable.

  2. Last year I sat on a jury that convicted an individual for being a straw buyer from not one…but three licensed dealers at shows here in Pima County. The only reason he was convicted is because he admitted it to ATF officers. It is way too easy for anyone to purchase weapons for any reason…legitimate or criminal. I’d like to offer some Q-tips to Namvet to clean the sand out of his ears as his head is obviously buried in it. The truth is sometimes inconvenient.

  3. First of all, there is no need for a metal detector at the door…you are allowed to carry your weapon at a gun show. The ammunition is removed by staff before entry, and the weapon is secured as well. Secondly, there may be 375 tables at the gun show, but it’s only a small percentage of those tables that actually sell guns. There are tables for home security systems, jerky, freeze-dried foods, handmade jewelry and clothing, t-shirts, antiques, baseball cards, toys, you name it. You people who have never been to a gun show need to stop making snap judgements (which you preach against in sooooo many other areas of life–sexual preference, religious freedoms, immigration, etc.) about something you know nothing about. What you need to realize is this–when a criminal wants a gun, they will find a way to get it, no matter how many laws you pass. Why take away my right to protect myself against these criminals? FYI–that’s what makes them criminals–they don’t follow the law.

  4. Sorry Molly, but you are wrong on this one. To be sure guns will be sold, as they have been for years, but there is no real justification to stop this or any other such event. Don’t punish the good because of the actions of a few crazies. Focus you energy on helping people who need help, this will bring true good to our community.

  5. Oh, you bleeding hearts – 20 first graders – I’ll wager it wasn’t anyone you know anyway. But now let me rant insanely against abortion for an hour….

  6. Just reading the NRA with 21 Republican states is trying to change the age of gun purchases down to 16/18 depending on the state. The NRA thinks everyone should be armed, then there would be no more murders, killings. The good guys would have the guns to stop the killers. My suggesting is that every baby born, be given a free gun when it leaves the hospital. Then the NRA could ensure every one is armed. And it would create huge profits for the gun manufacturers who funds the NRA.

  7. People need to realize the Republicans don’t like life after you are born, its only before they fight for the unborn, and then use laws and guns to kill us after we are born.

  8. 1. The author has never been to a gun show.
    2. Everything the author says about guns being traded among criminals is true.

  9. The author or the editor should chime in with the details of the author’s actual visit(s) to a gun show(s) since they are both ethically committed to ensuring the author’s authority on the matter.

    Commenters are assuming she has never been to a show because there was no narrative in the article regarding a personal visit to a gun show which would be customary for an actual journalist.

  11. Yes Bob: It’s a Guest Commentary, so I don’t feel any particular need to defend the content or assertions. If someone would like to write a commentary in rebuttal, they can feel free to email me.

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