The Del Mar Gun Show may be returning very soon due to a recent decision made by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo ruled that the shows can continue at the fairgrounds for the time being as the court deals with the state agency’s arrangement to suspend the shows.
The decision was announced on Monday, allowing the gun shows to continue while the court decides on the legality of suspending the show entirely. It will be the first time that the fairground can be reserved for gun shows since last December.
The group that oversees the Fairgrounds, the 22nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors, voted to prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition at the fairgrounds until concerns regarding on-site purchases could be figured out. Gun shows were suspended on January 1 as a result of the Board’s vote.
The California Rifle and Pistol Association has gotten support from the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation throughout their fight to keep the gun shows. Tiffany Cheuvront, the lawyer for the CRPA, thanked Judge Bencivengo for seeing the “constitutional problem with banning these safe, perfectly legal events and is allowing the show to go on while we continue to fight.” Cheuvront is sure that the “law-abiding Americans’ civil rights will not be unjustly violated and that we will prevail.” The San Diego Gun Owners PAC has also argued that it’s wrong to get rid of the gun shows at the fairgrounds and it’s completely unreasonable.
The attempt to ban the gun shows permanently has been led by gun control activists such as Never Again California located in Del Mar. State officials such as Governor Gavin Newsom, Assemblymembers Todd Gloria, Lorenza Gonzalez, and Tasha Boerner Horvath have also spoken out forcefully against the gun shows—not only on fairgrounds, but on any state-owned land.
Assembly Bill 893 was introduced in February by Gloria and Boerner-Horvath, passing in the State Assembly in April. This bill would completely prohibit the sale of guns and ammunition at the fairgrounds beginning in 2021. If the Senate passes AB 893 and Governor Newsom signs it into law, the gun show owners will most likely fill a second lawsuit to fight it. The case regarding the gun shows will undoubtedly continue through the fall.
