On the heels of the shooting at LAX, the Cow Palace hosted what organizers claim to be the largest gun show in the country.
The event was almost shut down, but Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have effectively ended all gun shows at the Cow Palace.
There has been a big fight over gun shows at the Cow Palace, and so far, the gun shows appear to be winning.
The Crossroads of the West gun show said it attracts almost a half-million customers in a year.
The show’s owner said at least 5,000 people came to the show this weekend.
At the show, people can find guns of all kinds--and a seemingly endless amount of ammunition.
Thousands come to the Cow Palace each year, but the show has not always felt welcome in the leftward leaning Bay Area.
"We’ve tried to address those concerns by not putting any signs up and not putting up any signs near the Cow Palace," the show's owner Bob Templeton said. "In fact, we even took the reference to guns off the Cow Palace electronic board."
The Cow Palace sits on state property, and state Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco authored a bill that required approval from San Francisco and San Mateo supervisors, both of which have gone on record against gun shows.
The bill passed both houses of the legislature, but the governor vetoed it, saying the decision should rest with the Cow Palace’s board of directors.
In the wake of the shooting at LAX on Friday, in which a TSA agent was killed by bullets from an assault rifle, gun control supporters are calling for more federal restrictions.
"The MP stands for military and police, clearly designed not for general consumption, but through practice, now general consumption," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said. "Same gun that was used at Aurora."
Feinstein said she is willing to author another federal ban on assault weapons, but does not think Congress would pass it.
Buying an assault weapon is already illegal in California as is transporting or importing most semi-automatic rifles.
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"It's going to be interesting to see whether this weapon was outlawed in California and whether it was purchased in California," Feinstein said.
Templeton said he admits more could be done to increase safety at gun shows, but he also said the answer is not to ban more guns.
"In terms of reporting people in this prohibited person category for mental health reasons, we have work to do in California, but certainly nationally, there’s a lot of work to do," Templeton said.
People cannot walk into a gun show in California and walk out with a gun because there’s a mandatory background check and a 10-day waiting period.
Many people come to these shows to look at the guns and to buy ammo.
The owner of the gun show said the show will be back at the Cow Palace next year.
