The board that oversees use of the Ventura County Fairgrounds is hoping by year’s end to have a policy in place that addresses gun shows.

Once adopted, it will guide whether the shows can take place and, if they can, under what circumstances. An ad hoc committee made up of board President Leslie Cornejo and Vice Chair Leah Lacayo will spend the next month researching with the board’s attorney the legal ramifications of banning gun shows, the financial consequences of eliminating them and related issues.

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“Our job is protect this place by being solvent and doing the right thing by our policies,” Cornejo said at a Tuesday meeting of the board.

The board has been looking since spring at whether to continue hosting gun shows at the fairgrounds in Ventura. Directors voted in May to honor the contract already approved with Crossroads of the West, which scheduled five shows for 2018.

Tuesday’s meeting drew more than 60 people. By a roughly 2-1 margin, those who spoke supported keeping gun shows, although hundreds of other individuals signed a petition asking the board to eliminate them.

“State agencies should not promote and profit from the proliferation of guns and ammunition,” the petition read, in part.

Jack Wise said he has attended guns shows at the fairgrounds many times. He told the board not to buy into the “hysteria” on gun shows.

“This is a safe venue. It’s a family venue,” he said, echoing what many others stated.

Ernest Blackmore said he has seen a lot more dangerous people at the fair. At the gun shows, he has purchased a flashlight with a stun gun and an alarm for his girlfriend and met a local proprietor of an archery shop, which renewed his interest in the sport.

“The gun show is not just for guns,” he said.

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Others urged directors to get rid of the shows. Bob Weiss lost his daughter Veronika Weiss in the 2014 Isla Vista rampage when 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people before turning a gun on himself. Weiss said it wasn’t a debate over the Second Amendment or the right of people to own guns, a right he supports.

“This is about whether the county wants to be in the gun business,” he said. “The county who I pay my taxes to should not be promoting gun sales.”

His daughter is dead, Weiss said, because guns are too easy to obtain and too easily get into the wrong hands.

Michael Cervantes, a Vietnam veteran and member of Veterans for Peace — Ventura County, read a statement from the national organization that called gun violence an “unchecked epidemic“ and said the only winners are the people making money off the sale of guns and bombs.

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Board member Cecilia Cuevas found herself in the minority in asking directors to reconsider whether to allow Crossroads of the West proceed with its last two shows of the year, which are scheduled in October and December.

The board voted in May to allow the shows scheduled in 2018.

The fairgrounds makes $88,000 to $100,000 per year from the gun shows in parking, the grounds/facility rental and a percentage proceeds from food sales, fairgrounds Executive Director Barbara Quaid said.

Quaid read the fair’s mission statement, which calls on the grounds to be a “multi-use community resource.” The groups that rent space are all educational, safe and “within our mission statement,” she said.

Until the board develops a policy or otherwise authorizes it, Quaid won’t be signing any contracts for next year to allow gun shows, Cornejo said.

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Crossroads of the West has requested to host five gun shows in 2019, Quaid said.

The ad hoc committee will return in October with more information. The board typically meets the fourth Tuesday of each month.

The fairgrounds is officially known as the 31st District Agricultural Association and is owned by the state.

At the March board meeting, Crossroads of the West owner Bob Templeton sought to clarify what is and isn’t allowed in California. He said no guns were bought and sold at the shows, and any transaction required a 10-day waiting period that includes a background check. Only licensed dealers can sell guns and the state Department of Justice has undercover officers who attend all guns shows, he said.