A gun show wants to return to Arizona but Tucson lawmakers are demanding background checks before another gun is sold on city property, KVOA reported on Monday.
The Tucson city council voted unanimously to require background checks on all gun purchases at gun shows in the Tucson Convention Center and other city property in 2013.
“We have seen far too many instances where people have psychological issues. They’re walking around with a gun. They’re blowing people away,” Council member Steve Kozachik told the television station. “Do the background check and we’re good to go.”
Roadrunner Gun Shows wants to return to the convention center, but the resolution complicates their business. Instead, organizers have booked a gun show at the privately-owned Sabbar Shrine in Tucson on October 24 and 25.
Lori McMann, of Roadrunner Gun Shows, told KVOA that she estimates about 70 percent of the show’s sellers don’t have access to the federal system that conducts instant background checks.
Kozachik said the city will not change its policy.
“We think it’s defensible,” he told KVOA. “It’s not an ordinance. It’s a condition of using our property, and we’re going to keep implementing it.”
