Gun Show, City of Tucson at Impasse Over Background Check Requirement

FILE - This Oct. 13, 2013 pool-file photo shows former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, her husband Mark Kelly, center, and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, touring the New EastCoast Arms Collectors Associate... FILE - This Oct. 13, 2013 pool-file photo shows former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, her husband Mark Kelly, center, and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, touring the New EastCoast Arms Collectors Associates arms fair in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A divided Congress denied President Barack Obama’s calls for reforms. The federal gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, is arguably stronger than ever. And polls suggest that support for new gun laws is slipping as the memory of Newtown’s horror fades. (AP Photo/Tim Roske, File, Pool) MORE LESS

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.”

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  1. Avatar for marby marby says:

    I have yet to hear a reasonable or convincing argument for why gun-show sellers shouldn’t be required to do background checks. Good for the City of Tucscon for upholding their law.

  2. way to go Shriners. I’m guessing the ER staff at your kiddies hospital doesn’t share your take on background checks.

  3. Luckily, the Sabbar Shrine “Temple” (it is a fraternal organization, not religious) is near a Catholic church, so it is a convenient location if you want to pray that a crazy person doesn’t buy a gun and stroll over to the nearby elementary school to do some shooting.

    I lived really close to this place growing up. Compared to a Convention Center setting, it is a very small place.

  4. “It’s not an ordinance. It’s a condition of using our property, and we’re going to keep implementing it.”

    WHAT ! – A city in Arizona having a moment of clarity ?? Some semblance of reason ??

    Well … The NRA isn’t going to stand for that !

  5. Man, it’s just way too much trouble to go to!

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