The Glendale City Council tonight will consider an ordinance that would ban gun shows at city-owned buildings and parks, a move that would evict the Glendale Gun Show from its traditional home at the civic center.
The proposal has raised the ire of gun-rights advocates and the Glendale Gun Show's owner, who has threatened legal action. City officials insist, however, that the ban would not unduly limit the public's access to firearms.
"Prohibiting the sale or possession of firearms and ammunition on city properties does not burden the rights of persons to engage in self-defense or sporting activities and does not prevent persons from purchasing firearms at retail outlets in the city and throughout the region,'' according to a city staff report. The report noted that in addition to licensed dealers in the city, firearms dealers are easily accessible in neighboring Pasadena, Burbank and Los Angeles.
City officials wrote in the report that the "thrice-yearly'" gun show at the civic center draws more than 1,000 people from across the area, and the facility is across the street from Glendale Community College and within 1,000 feet of College View School.
When the ordinance was introduced last week, attorney Sean Brady,
representing gun show owner Steve Friesen, warned that passage of the measure would prompt a lawsuit. Some council members questioned the ordinance and suggested it was a knee-jerk reaction to recent high-profile outbreaks of gun violence -- such as the massacre of students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Most of the Council is supporting the ban, with those against it believing that it's an extreme reaction coming off the heels of the tragic shootings in Newtown at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and that the shows are not a threat to public safety.
