Gun Shows Banned in Glendale

The Glendale City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve an ordinance banning gun shows at city-owned buildings and parks, a move that would evict the Glendale Gun Show from its traditional home at the Glendale Civic Auditorium.

The ordinance is a response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. that left 20 students and six adult staff members dead, Joal Ryan, a co-founder of the Coalition for a Better Glendale, told Fox11.

The group was founded in the wake of the Dec. 14 shooting to end the gun show, according to its website.

"This is a really local, very specific issue,'' Ryan told Fox11. "We're not talking about banning guns, We're not talking about taking away guns. It just said... after Sandy Hook, not here, not now. We don't want our city in the gun show business any more.''

The proposal drew opposition from gun-rights advocates and Glendale Gun Show owner Steve Friesen, whose attorney, Sean Brady, 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 draws more than 1,000 people from across the area.

Mayor Frank Quintero, Councilwoman Laura Friedman and Councilman Rafi Manoukian voted in support of the ordinance, while Councilmen Ara Najarian and Dave Weaver voted no.