Of Guns and Roses: Mother’s Day Event Offers the Former : Weapons: One dealer at the Ventura firearms show said such gatherings may be “legislated out” by anti-crime laws.

Her head barely visible behind a semiautomatic rifle, ammunition and assorted gun paraphernalia, Edith Probst, 82, sat patiently waiting for her son Eddie at the Ventura County Fairgrounds Sunday, a Mother’s Day corsage pinned to her blue dress.

Eddie and his wife, Shirley, who also wore an orchid, planned to go out for dinner later in honor of the holiday.

But first there was the business that brings them from their home in New Orleans to California three months a year: displaying firearms at gun shows like the one in Ventura over the weekend.

“The market’s super here, in Ventura and throughout California,” said Eddie Probst, 60, a retired mechanic who said his profits from the shows are just enough “to keep us on the road.”

The gun show, the third of seven scheduled at the fairgrounds this year, brought out a small army of prospective gun buyers, from strolling couples to amateur hunters and target shooters. Dealers like the Probsts market their wares at more than three dozen such shows a year throughout California.

Their customers, who assembled Sunday in the barracks-style Commercial Building at the fairgrounds, included bankers, engineers, police officers and a few ordinary civilians who said they were interested in guns for self-defense.

And there were those who said they just plain like guns.

Some dealers and prospective buyers did not want their names used because of what they said was the negative image associated with guns. A few collectors said they prefer to keep a low profile because of the prospect of theft or burglary.

“Any wise gun owner always has that in the back of his mind,” said one collector, a slight man wearing jeans and a backpack who said he drove up from Redondo Beach for the show.

He said his interest in firearms started when his father bought him a BB gun when he was a boy in his native Hawaii. Now, he said, he can sum up his passion for firearms in a word: “Perfection.”

“It’s a matter of precision,” he said. “A lot of people call me a perfectionist. Unlike daily life, where there’s a lot of gray areas, when you shoot at a target you either hit it or miss it.”

Besides guns, other goods were offered on the rows of display tables, including T-shirts, knives, jewelry and American Indian artifacts.

“I’m really not into guns, just the older ones, the antiques,” said Andy Rankis, whose stall included hundreds of books on subjects as eclectic as Civil War rifles, the art of Italian painter Raphael and a booklet entitled “How to Make a Disposable Silencer.”

“Everyone has their own tastes,” Rankis said. “I think people have the capability to understand and buy what they want to buy, but it’s also their duty to handle the material responsibly.”

Los Alamitos resident Carolyn Desroche said her reason for being at the show was more personal. She said her son was murdered last month in New Orleans while waiting at a stoplight.

Details of the incident could not be confirmed, but Desroche said it was not the first time a family member had been shot. She said they now buy guns for protection.

“I don’t mind talking about weapons, we need them,” Desroche said. “If you’re stripped of your weapons, you’re a sitting duck.”

Some dealers lamented what they called a poor turnout at Sunday’s show, which they mostly attributed to the fact that it was Mother’s Day.

Others, however, said gun shows are on the decline throughout California because of restrictive state laws, including legislation signed by Gov. George Deukmejian in March, that mandates a 15-day waiting period between purchase and delivery of recreational rifles and shotguns. That law is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

A 15-day wait already is required for the purchase of a handgun. The delay allows authorities to check the purchaser’s criminal background and provides a “cooling off” period aimed at curbing impulsive crimes, proponents say.

One gun dealer said he doubts that such laws curb crime.

“It’s just going to stop the person who legitimately wants to buy a gun,” he said. “By 1991, I think the gun shows in California are going to be legislated out.”