Min seeks to Ban Gun Shows in California

ICYMI: Senator Dave Min Aims to Ban Gun Shows Statewide

Daily Pilot: “As many fairgrounds in California operate as part of the state’s District Agricultural Assn., [Senate Bill 264] could effectively kill gun shows held on site.”

SACRAMENTO, CA — With statewide gun sales hitting peak levels in 2020 following stay-at-home orders last spring, Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) seeks to curb ensuing gun violence, the Daily Pilot reports. His Senate Bill 264 (SB 264) would prohibit any state officer or employee, as well as anyone licensed to use any state-held property from allowing or contracting for the sale of any firearm or ammunition on that property, effectively ending gun shows.

“We are being plagued by an epidemic of gun violence in our country,” Min said. “Even if gun shows weren’t rife with the sales of unlicensed guns and untraceable ghost gun kits, which they are, we should not be using taxpayer-owned property to distribute more guns into our communities. The research supports common sense — more guns lead to more gun violence in our communities. Enough is enough.

The full story is linked here and can be found below.

California lawmaker who once set sights on ending gun shows at O.C. fairgrounds now aims for statewide ban

By Sara Cardine

As an Irvine Democrat campaigning to represent residents of California’s 37th Senate District in 2019, Dave Min set his political sights on ending the decades-long tradition of hosting gun shows at the state-owned Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Fresh off the heels of deadly shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas and a similar incident on July 28 of that year at California’s Garlic Festival in Gilroy that left three dead and 17 wounded, Min declared a “tragic cycle of gun violence” had to end.

“I don’t see freedom … when I arrive at the county fair and am given free tickets to take my family to a gun show,” the 37-year-old UC Irvine law professor said in a statement that August, announcing his ambition to stop the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the fairgrounds.

Now, more than a year later and securely planted in office following a Nov. 3 win over incumbent John Moorlach, Min is broadening his target, introducing a bill into the state Senate that would ban gun sales and shows on all state-owned property in California.

The move comes as statewide gun sales hit peak levels in 2020 immediately following pandemic shutdowns last spring, with as many as 110,000 new firearms purchased statewide by mid-July, according to a UC Davis survey reported by the Los Angeles Times.

If passed, Senate Bill 264 would prohibit any state officer or employee, as well as anyone licensed to use any state-held property from allowing or contracting for the sale of any firearm or ammunition on that property.

With law enforcement gun buybacks listed as the singular exception, offenders could face misdemeanor charges, according to the text of SB 264. As many fairgrounds in California operate as part of the state’s District Agricultural Assn., such legislation could effectively kill gun shows held on site.

Min, who was in a legislative session in Sacramento Monday and could not be reached for comment, said in a statement after the bill’s Jan. 27 introduction on the Senate floor SB 264 would close a “gun show loophole” that has allowed for the sales of illegal “ghost guns,” homemade firearms lacking serial numbers, straw sales and the theft of guns from unwitting vendors.

“Our county fairgrounds are supposed to be family-friendly venues long associated with wholesome events. But instead, in recent years, they’ve become most well-known for gun shows.” Min said in the statement. “That needs to change, and this bill would accomplish that change.”

Operated by the Orange County Fair & Event Center, the Costa Mesa fairgrounds have hosted firearms-related events through Utah-based Crossroads of the West Gun Show for the past 25 years, earning a cumulative $6.66 million from the agreement, spokeswoman Terry Moore confirmed Monday.

Even as isolated efforts to ban such shows inched closer to Orange County, board members in an October 2019 meeting extended OCFEC’s contract with Crossroads by one year.

At the time, board members discussed an earlier legislative push — AB 893, undertaken by then-Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), who now serves as that city’s mayor — to ban gun shows at the Del Mar fairgrounds starting in 2021.

The panel further considered the possibility a ban on the sale of firearms on state-owned property might impact the agreement, should it be moved forward.

Numerous gun show fans and proprietors spoke in favor of continuing the tradition, in which customers arrange for gun sales with no on-site purchases being made. They singularly attested to the numerous safety precautions put in place during such events.

“No one can walk into the show and outright purchase a firearm and take it home with them. There’s … a whole process for turning over ownership and background checks and whatnot,” OCFEC Executive Director Michele Richards said at the meeting, stipulating such shows also featured concessions and safety education classes.

Ultimately, the board voted 5-1 to renew the center’s contract with Crossroads for five 2020 shows to take place in January, March, June, August and November — a move that before the pandemic closures was anticipated to bring in $715,000 in projected revenue.

Officials confirmed Monday only the January show took place as scheduled. So far, no complaints of illegal activity have been lodged with OC Fair & Event Center Staff, according to Moore.

Min’s SB 264 has been referred to the Senate’s Standing Committee on Public Safety and may be acted upon at the end of the month. Meanwhile, gun control advocates are expressing their support for the senator’s proposal.

“The state of California should not be associated with the selling and promotion of firearms and ammunition,” Sandy Wilder, president of Brady Orange County, said in Min’s statement. “Let’s not forget that state-owned properties are supported by taxpayer dollars, so they also must pay for the trauma of firearm violence in our communities.”

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Dave Min represents California State Senate District 37, which is located in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park.

 

Dave was a University of California Irvine law professor and a former economic policy staffer in the United States Senate and for the Center for American Progress. He began his legal career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the retirement security of seniors, turning down high paying jobs to serve the public interest. Dave and his wife Jane live and work in Irvine, where they are raising their three young children.