opinion

In Parkland aftermath, should governments still rent facilities for gun shows? | Reisman

Bob Galbraith doesn’t want to take anyone’s guns away.

People should be able to protect themselves and their families from any and all threats, the Vero Beach health insurance salesman said.

Galbraith, whose views sync with most Second Amendment proponents I know, just doesn’t think the government should provide venues for guns to be sold. It's a view many dyed-in-the-wool conservative libertarians might agree with.

“The community doesn’t need to be in the business of selling weapons,” said Galbraith, who plans to let Indian River County commissioners know what he thinks on Tuesday.

The county has leased part of its fairgrounds to gun shows since 2011. Mike Strickland, owner of Sebastian-based Patriot Productions, hopes to have five gun shows there this year that draw 3,000 or more people each.

Strickland also has several non-gun-related events at the fairgrounds, such as those focusing on homes and gardens. He pays the county about $37,000 a year, he said.

Galbraith decided to speak out after the Parkland massacre. He watched coverage of the shootings through the lens of a parent with a 7-year-old who doesn't want to see further tragedies.

“My intent was to keep the conversation going,” he told me the other day. “This is a simple action that could be done in the county. We need to be more sensible about what we’re doing.”

It’s bad enough the Parkland shooter obtained his weapon even after somehow passing a background check, Galbraith said. At gun shows, however, only federally licensed dealers have to run background checks. Other vendors don't.

Galbraith worries weapons easily could get in the hands of would-be wrong-doers only a few hundred yards from soccer fields often packed with children.

Strickland said 85 percent of the vendors at his gun shows are federally licensed and run background checks because they don’t want to run afoul of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF agents have done informational sessions at his shows.

“It’s not uncommon” for licensed dealers to be at Florida gun shows, said Clara Himel, an ATF spokesperson in Miami. She does not know what percentage of vendors at shows are licensed.

MORE: Two-day gun show, popular but controversial, led to the ban

Strickland is surprised by the effort to shut him down.

“It doesn’t make sense to us,” Strickland said, noting he expects supporters to attend Tuesday’s meeting. “What we do is a legal, legitimate business both in the United States and Florida.”

One supporter, Joel Molinari, a National Rifle Association life member who owns a local pool company, said it shouldn’t matter whether someone sells guns or pigs: The county leases public property to anyone who operates within the law.

Strickland operates gun shows at public facilities in St. Lucie and Highlands counties. St. Lucie County’s Fenn Center rents space for gun shows and no one has complained, said venue coordinator Matt Morse.

In the wake of Parkland, gun shows have come under attack elsewhere. The Florida Gun and Knife Show in Fort Lauderdale slated for March 17-18 was canceled after the city’s mayor “courteously and professionally” requested it, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

In Greensboro, North Carolina, City Council is expected to meet later this month to discuss canceling a show at the city’s coliseum in August.

Even before Parkland, Westchester County, New York, banned gun shows at its county center.

MORE: Banning gun shows legal in Nashville

Some state laws, including Florida’s, pre-empt local governments from regulating firearms sales. Would that include gun shows? It's a subject for debate.

Last year, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled government officials could cancel gun shows at the city-owned Fairgrounds Nashville. The same vendor had held shows there for three decades.

Like Galbraith, Molinari was heavily influenced by a dramatic event in South Florida when he had small children: In 2000, U.S. Border Patrol agents raided the home where Elian Gonzalez, 5, was living to reunite him with his father in Cuba. Molinari will never forget the iconic image of an agent with a semiautomatic gun pointed in the child’s direction.

“To me, this was a classic case of (government) overreach,” Molinari said, adding our nation’s founders lived through government tyranny, which is why they penned the Second Amendment giving Americans the right to own guns.

The Second Amendment is something Molinari and Galbraith agree on.

It’s clear they’re First Amendment advocates, too, willing to speak their minds, respectfully, in public and to their representatives.

“I expect nothing will happen, but it keeps the conversation going,” said Galbraith, whose goal is to make Indian River County safer.

Molinari’s not offended.

“I’m glad (Galbraith) is voicing his opinion,” Molinari said. “I just want to make sure there are other opinions out there.”

May the two sides have an educational debate Tuesday. It’s better to address the issue than ignore it.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.