Gun Shows at the Fairplex

I’m totally lost on all this rhetoric about banning the sale of guns at the Fairplex (Aug. 24-25).

As a private gun dealer, let me enlighten you. In California all gun transfers, including those between private parties, must go through a dealer. A private seller and buyer must go to a dealer who records detailed identification of the seller, has the buyer fill out the proper state and federal paperwork, runs a background check on the buyer, holds the gun for 10 days, and, if all is OK, completes the transfer. No dealer is allowed to transfer a gun at a gun show. The actual transfer of the gun must take place at the dealer’s place of business.

You will also find no assault weapons at California gun shows. All transfers of assault weapons were outlawed in 1989. And the ones that weren’t covered by the 1989 law are now covered by SB 23, which was just signed by Gov. Gray Davis.

This claim of the Great Western Gun Show being a “supermarket” for the unregulated sale of guns is a baldfaced lie. The only sale that is legal is from a private party to a dealer or between dealers. So what is the point of this proposed law to ban gun sales on county property? There is none.

JOE DAVIS

Lancaster

* By banning gun shows on L.A. County property, the supervisors’ only accomplishment is a loss of revenue for the county. The gun shows will now take place on private property and we taxpayers will be required to replace the lost revenue. Just what we needed!

WILLIAM G. FAWCETT

Tujunga

* Gun dealer Gordon Groomer sees hard-working, law-abiding citizens attending the gun show in Costa Mesa (Aug. 22). But he doesn’t see those loners, disgruntled employees or racists who are going to go on the next shooting spree.

And why did the law-abiders at the Pomona Fairgrounds look the other way when James Michael Swain sold kits for assembling illegal machine guns? Even I know these people skirt the law by selling the parts to complete the kits at other locations.

I don’t want guns taken away from responsible owners, but I want reasonable restrictions such as background checks at gun shows and not giving people the ability to put together machine guns.

MICHAEL CARR

Pasadena