The Taxpayers’ Gun Business

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is expected to propose today a ban on gun shows, starting next March, at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona and on other county properties. This is a just goal, and the county Board of Supervisors should take the initiative a step further and examine ways to cancel three currently contracted gun shows, in October, December and February.

Yaroslavsky will set forth a county ordinance outlawing the future sales of any guns and ammunition on county property, a significant step forward. That’s consistent with the board’s Aug. 6 decision to join Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and the NAACP in suing the firearms industry. That suit claims the county has borne a burden of gun violence through the use of its public hospitals, courts and jails. It also seeks to force gun manufacturers to better control sales and install safety mechanisms on weapons.

How can the county pursue this lawsuit while it also sanctions the Great Western gun shows at the Fairplex in Pomona? The answer, of course, is that it cannot reconcile the conflict. The gun shows should no longer be permitted on public property in Los Angeles County. It doesn’t help the county’s case, however, that supervisors in the late 1980s locked the county into a long-term lease, with 54 years now remaining, that gives the Fairplex tremendous discretion in deciding which vendors receive leases. Fairplex is a private foundation that has the ground lease with the county government. The county can audit Fairplex’s books but has no oversight authority.

Another reason for prompt action: Guns traced back to area gun shows formed a major part of the frightening arsenal used by the bank robbers in the North Hollywood shootout in February 1997. In May of this year, state undercover officers found numerous law violations among sellers at a Fairplex gun show.

Fairplex management says it can cancel the shows only if the county coughs up $600,000 to compensate for lost revenue. As one county staffer noted, “They’re holding the gun show to our heads.”

An agreement might be possible, but not without a compete review of Fairplex revenues. The supervisors must keep their eyes on the objective of taking the county out of the gun business, contractually or otherwise. Banning gun sales from public property is the right thing to do.