Gun Show Files Suit Against L.A. County
Organizers of the nation’s largest gun show alleged Thursday that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors held secret meetings to force their operation from the county fairgrounds in Pomona.
Filing their second federal lawsuit against the county, Great Western Gun Show charged that officials held “secret meetings” to compensate the company managing the fairgrounds while discussing a law to bar firearms sales on county property.
After approving the law in the wake of the shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills last year, the supervisors agreed in public meetings to give the company $2.7 million in rent credits if the Great Western Show left.
The show sued last year and won an injunction against enforcement of the law but left the fairgrounds for Las Vegas last year. However, operators closed their Nevada operations this year and are trying to return to Pomona.
In a statement, company president Karl Amelang called the county’s meetings “illegal and improper attempts by the county to wield its power in an unfair manner.”
County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman said he was unaware of private meetings and called the suit “another attempt by Great Western to blame their woes on the Board of Supervisors.”
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