SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — California lawmakers were considering new rules for gun shows on Tuesday. The legislation would ban guns and ammunition from being sold at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
After the cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas each passed resolutions to end gun shows at the fairgrounds, a group called NeverAgainCA visited the state capitol and presented their two-minute testimonies in support of ending the shows.
News 8 spoke to group member Jill Cooper.
“There are already enough guns in the community, and the state should not be in the business of sanctioning the use of guns,” she said.
Cooper is a retired first-grade teacher and says 10 people from NeverAgainCA traveled to Sacramento to present at a public safety committee meeting. The members testified for in support of Assembly Bill 893.
“I have dozens of my constituents, who have flown up here today to Sacramento, [I] hope that you would heed their call to end gun shows once and for all,” said Assemblyman Todd Gloria.
They say there are 73 gun stores in California and the state should not be in the business of allowing the sale of guns and ammunition on state-owned property.
On Tuesday, the assembly public safety committee voted to move AB893 forward. It will next go on to the full assembly.
Last September, the fair board voted 8 to 1 to place gun shows on moratorium for all of 2020. It is an action that the Crossroads of the West Gun Show has filed a lawsuit against.
The gun show group, who has said they think it is appropriate for the state to intervene, filed their lawsuit in January and are waiting on the board to respond
Crossroads says its gun shows are "highly regulated, legal and legitimate, and family friendly.”
See below for pictures from Tuesday's public safety committee meeting courtesy of NeverAgainCA.
San Diegan Rose Ann Sharp, founder of NeverAgainCA alongside Assembly member Todd Gloria supporting legislation ending gun shows in Del Mar.
Members of NeverAgainCA in Sacramento on the steps of the California State Capitol where they testified in the State Assembly Public Safety committee supporting a bill to end gun shows on the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
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