The Crossroads of the West gun show is taking place at the Cow Palace in Daly City this weekend, where founder and owner Bob Templeton has plans to speak to the crowd about gun ownership and the executive orders President Barack Obama announced Tuesday.
Saturday's event drew thousands of people, according to San Jose Mercury News, and thousands more are expected to pour in for Sunday's show. Last year, more than half a million people attended Crossroads events, the newspaper reported.
In addition to founding Crossroads with his wife in 1975, Templeton is also the current president of the National Association of Arms Shows. He's been an adovcate for second amendment rights for decades, working with the State Department of Justice and the California Legislature in drafting Assembly Bill 295, the gun show regulatory bill which went into effect in 2000, according to a news release.
Gun shows are often criticized for allowing private owners to sell their own guns without having a license to do so, among other concerns. The legality of purchasing guns at shows has been a hot-button issue during the 2016 presidential campaign, especially in light of mass shootings across the nation.
Those who support gun shows claim that the events enable responsible gun owners to educate themselves and make responsible purchases, while detractors have said that the exhibitions offer loopholes that bypass regulations and make purchasing a firearm an easy task for someone unstable or dangerous.
Crossroads of the West promotes more than 60 gun shows a year throughout California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, that are purported to be family-friendly by the company website.
