Municipalities urged to ban gun shows http://www.gazette.net/200042/montgomerycty/county/29606-1.html
by Myra Mensh Patner
Staff Writer
Oct. 18, 2000
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan is calling on municipalities to
adopt a county law that would end local gun shows, targeting the ones held twice a
year at the county fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.
"A 1997 amendment [to the County Code] ... effectively bans gun shows and creates
'gun free zones' near public places," Duncan wrote in the letter sent Tuesday to all the
county's mayors. "Specifically, the law states that 'a person must not sell, transfer,
possess, or transport a handgun, rifle, or shotgun, or ammunition for these firearms,
in or within 100 yards of a place of public assembly.'"
Because the county fairgrounds are within the city limits of Gaithersburg, a
municipality, county law does not apply. Municipalities in Montgomery County are
self-governing; each must adopt the county's laws if they are to apply within the
municipality's borders.
Gun shows have taken place at the fairgrounds twice a year since 1990. The next gun
show is set for this weekend at the fairgrounds, with another scheduled for Jan. 6-7.
Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz said late Tuesday he had not received Duncan's
letter, but will ask the city's attorney to review it when it arrives. He said the matter
could be brought before the City Council in November.
"We haven't had any public discussion of this topic yet," Katz said.
Duncan (D) said he decided to send the letter after the county attorney advised him
that the 1997 law was the way to end gun shows.
"We're asking to close a local gun show loophole," said David Weaver, Duncan's
spokesman.
Attorney James Clifford, who represents the Montgomery Agricultural Center and
Fairgrounds -- which is owned and operated by a private nonprofit foundation -- said
he has not seen a copy of the letter and would not comment on it.
Frank Krasner of Silverado Promotions, who organizes the gun shows at the
fairgrounds as well as others in Prince George's County, Howard County and
Frederick County, would not comment.
Krasner plans to have 200 tables of guns at this weekend's show.
Although he has organized gun shows at the county fairgrounds for a decade, the
shows were relatively uncontroversial until The Gazette highlighted them in recent
articles.
The County Council passed the Gun-Free Zones Law in 1997 after receiving
complaints from constituents about two gun shops. One was the Gentlemen Hunter
in Bethesda and the other was Article II Unlimited, which opened on University
Boulevard in Silver Spring, across the street from Blair High School.
The law did not affect either shop, and both are still in business.
Opponents of gun control have often derided the law as meaningless. In this month's
issue of a newsletter called "Tripwire: A Maryland Gun Rights Advocacy Newsletter,"
James Purtilo writes: "Now that the law has been in place for three years, it's
reasonable to ask: has it quelled the big emergency and saved our children ... here in
the third year of this gun control law's existence, Montgomery County has yet to write
any regulation showing how it should be implemented. Nobody has gotten around to
it."
Purtilo goes on to say: "No county authority has had any ability to enforce this 'critical
law' since it was put on the books. Gun controllers' true colors are shown when a
crisis can be resolved simply by passing the law without actually doing anything
about it."
But Weaver, Duncan's spokesman, said Duncan is confident that Gaithersburg and
other municipalities will adopt the Gun-Free Zones Law and end the gun shows for
good.
"He thinks it is insane that we work so hard to keep guns out of the hands of kids and
criminals on the one hand and then we have arms bazaars at the fairgrounds on the
other," Weaver said.
The fact that the Montgomery fairgrounds is privately owned and operated but has
received about $1 million since 1998 in state, county and City of Gaithersburg funds
for improvements has already prompted State Sens. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of
Bethesda and Leonard H. Teitelbaum (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring to ask the
fairgrounds to end the shows or face action from the General Assembly.
The American public often does not know about gun shows in its midst, said Kristen
Rand, executive director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a national
nonprofit group that studies violence in America and recommends legislation.
"It is not uncommon for shows held in places that would be disturbing to some
people to advertise mainly in gun-related publications. They're very able to keep it
quiet," said Rand, who published a 1996 national study of gun shows called "Gun
Shows in America: Tupperware Parties for Criminals."
When the wider community learns about the shows, she said, there is often instant
reaction against them. "Local politicians find out it's in their own back yard. It is not
abstract any more and they move to do something."
by Myra Mensh Patner
Staff Writer
Oct. 18, 2000
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan is calling on municipalities to
adopt a county law that would end local gun shows, targeting the ones held twice a
year at the county fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.
"A 1997 amendment [to the County Code] ... effectively bans gun shows and creates
'gun free zones' near public places," Duncan wrote in the letter sent Tuesday to all the
county's mayors. "Specifically, the law states that 'a person must not sell, transfer,
possess, or transport a handgun, rifle, or shotgun, or ammunition for these firearms,
in or within 100 yards of a place of public assembly.'"
Because the county fairgrounds are within the city limits of Gaithersburg, a
municipality, county law does not apply. Municipalities in Montgomery County are
self-governing; each must adopt the county's laws if they are to apply within the
municipality's borders.
Gun shows have taken place at the fairgrounds twice a year since 1990. The next gun
show is set for this weekend at the fairgrounds, with another scheduled for Jan. 6-7.
Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz said late Tuesday he had not received Duncan's
letter, but will ask the city's attorney to review it when it arrives. He said the matter
could be brought before the City Council in November.
"We haven't had any public discussion of this topic yet," Katz said.
Duncan (D) said he decided to send the letter after the county attorney advised him
that the 1997 law was the way to end gun shows.
"We're asking to close a local gun show loophole," said David Weaver, Duncan's
spokesman.
Attorney James Clifford, who represents the Montgomery Agricultural Center and
Fairgrounds -- which is owned and operated by a private nonprofit foundation -- said
he has not seen a copy of the letter and would not comment on it.
Frank Krasner of Silverado Promotions, who organizes the gun shows at the
fairgrounds as well as others in Prince George's County, Howard County and
Frederick County, would not comment.
Krasner plans to have 200 tables of guns at this weekend's show.
Although he has organized gun shows at the county fairgrounds for a decade, the
shows were relatively uncontroversial until The Gazette highlighted them in recent
articles.
The County Council passed the Gun-Free Zones Law in 1997 after receiving
complaints from constituents about two gun shops. One was the Gentlemen Hunter
in Bethesda and the other was Article II Unlimited, which opened on University
Boulevard in Silver Spring, across the street from Blair High School.
The law did not affect either shop, and both are still in business.
Opponents of gun control have often derided the law as meaningless. In this month's
issue of a newsletter called "Tripwire: A Maryland Gun Rights Advocacy Newsletter,"
James Purtilo writes: "Now that the law has been in place for three years, it's
reasonable to ask: has it quelled the big emergency and saved our children ... here in
the third year of this gun control law's existence, Montgomery County has yet to write
any regulation showing how it should be implemented. Nobody has gotten around to
it."
Purtilo goes on to say: "No county authority has had any ability to enforce this 'critical
law' since it was put on the books. Gun controllers' true colors are shown when a
crisis can be resolved simply by passing the law without actually doing anything
about it."
But Weaver, Duncan's spokesman, said Duncan is confident that Gaithersburg and
other municipalities will adopt the Gun-Free Zones Law and end the gun shows for
good.
"He thinks it is insane that we work so hard to keep guns out of the hands of kids and
criminals on the one hand and then we have arms bazaars at the fairgrounds on the
other," Weaver said.
The fact that the Montgomery fairgrounds is privately owned and operated but has
received about $1 million since 1998 in state, county and City of Gaithersburg funds
for improvements has already prompted State Sens. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of
Bethesda and Leonard H. Teitelbaum (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring to ask the
fairgrounds to end the shows or face action from the General Assembly.
The American public often does not know about gun shows in its midst, said Kristen
Rand, executive director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., a national
nonprofit group that studies violence in America and recommends legislation.
"It is not uncommon for shows held in places that would be disturbing to some
people to advertise mainly in gun-related publications. They're very able to keep it
quiet," said Rand, who published a 1996 national study of gun shows called "Gun
Shows in America: Tupperware Parties for Criminals."
When the wider community learns about the shows, she said, there is often instant
reaction against them. "Local politicians find out it's in their own back yard. It is not
abstract any more and they move to do something."
