Tucson moves on: Safeway reopens, gun show draws thousands

A week after a mass shooting left six dead and 13 injured, Tucson struggled to return to normal on Saturday as thousands packed a gun show and the Safeway supermarket where the attack took place reopened.

At both places, mourners observed a moment of silence to pay tribute to the 19 people shot a week ago. At both sites, people said they were saddened by the senseless violence but were ready to move on.

At 10:11 a.m. Mountain time, many at the shopping plaza fell silent in observance of the events of a week ago, when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet with constituents outside a Safeway market. Shots erupted and some in the crowd wrestled Jared Lee Loughner to the ground. Loughner is being held on five counts of murder and attempted murder of federal employees.

About two hours later, vendors and buyers at a nearby fairgrounds stopped and lowered their heads for a moment of silence in tribute to the shooting victims.

On sale were Glock 19 handguns and the type of extended ammunition clips allegedly used by Loughner.

“This is not about legal firearms and folks who attend gun shows, but about a deranged person,” said Bob Templeton, president of the company sponsoring the gun show. Organizers considered postponing the event because of the shootings but decided that it was appropriate to proceed.

“Sensible people seem to be able to separate this tragedy from legal ownership of firearms,” he added, saying calls to cancel the show were “politically motivated.”

Gun-control advocates said holding a gun show so soon after a mass shooting was inappropriate and insensitive. They contend that stricter laws on purchases of guns and ammunition would help avoid similar shooting rampages.

But many at the West Gun Show disagreed and argued that more law-abiding people with more guns would increase public safety — not lessen it.

“If one person was carrying and had courage last week, that guy [Loughner] would’ve only shot once,” said vendor Bert Smith of Blackgunstuff, which sells gun equipment.

Threats of organized protests did not materialize, and vendors said business was strong — especially for extended ammunition magazines, which are in demand because of fears of legislation to ban their sale.

“I bought eight full-capacity, 19-round magazines,” said Charles Heller, secretary of the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights lobbying group with a booth at the show.

Heller was armed with three concealed handguns — a Glock, a short-barreled revolver and a Caltech 380 pistol. He said banning sales of extended capacity magazines would not have prevented last week’s shootings.

Loughner allegedly fired more than 30 shots from an extended clip, police said.

“If you’re going to misbehave with 33 rounds, you’re likely to misbehave with 19,” Heller said.

Templeton said gun owners were as saddened by last week’s shooting as anyone else in Tucson, but blamed the shooter and not his weapon. A flag outside the main exhibit hall was at half-staff, and a donation box for victims of the shootings — next to a National Rifle Assn. poster — filled up with dollar bills as the day wore on.

As Tucson marked one week since the shooting, there were signs of a return to normality. The Safeway market reopened at 7 a.m. Many of its 88 employees embraced as they entered. Outside was a memorial of flowers, many on the pavement, but some in vases and baskets.

About 100 people gathered outside the Safeway in La Toscana shopping plaza. The crowd included Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, visitors from as far as Phoenix, regular shoppers and employees.

Safeway employee Shayne Spude wept as she approached the makeshift memorial outside the store. Spude was at work last week when the shooting occurred and saw some of the victims.

“We saw the darkest side of life that you can ever imagine,” said co-worker Dawn Gallagher, who was also at work that day and feels for the victims’ families, especially 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. “I just wish I could have been standing in front of Christina,” she said.

“This has really touched me as it has touched the whole city,” Teresa Mancha, 61, said Saturday before the moment of silence. She and her husband live nearby and see the Safeway as their neighborhood market. A mother with three children who live in the Los Angeles area, Mancha said she can’t get her mind off of the events of a week ago, especially the death of Christina.

“I put myself in the place of the mother who has lost her child,” Mancha said. “This has really touched me as it has touched the whole city. I just hope something good can come out of this, more unity.”

Mancha said she is praying for all of the victims, including Rep. Giffords, who is recovering from her head wound but remains in critical condition. But Mancha said she is also praying for the parents of shooting suspect Loughner.

“I just pray that people can give them support too, because they need it,” Mancha said.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

david.zucchino@latimes.com

Staff writer Michael Muskal contributed from Los Angeles.