Some gun shows canceling after Newtown shooting

A sign is posted for an upcoming gun show, Friday, Jan. 4, 2013, in Leesport, Pa. / AP Photo/Matt Rourke

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. Several gun shows, all about an hour's drive from Newtown, Conn., have been canceled.

A show in White Plains, N.Y. — brought back a few years ago after being called off for a decade because of the Columbine shooting — is off because officials decided it didn't seem appropriate now, either. In Danbury, Conn. — about 10 miles west of Newtown — the venue backed out. Same with three other shows in New York's Hudson Valley, according to the organizer.

Gun advocates aren't backing down from their insistence on the right to keep and bear arms. But heightened sensitivities and raw nerves since the Newtown shooting have led to toned-down displays at gun shows and prompted some officials and sponsors to cancel the well-attended exhibitions altogether.

Some of the most popular guns will be missing from next weekend's gun show in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., after show organizers agreed to bar the display and sale of AR-15 military-style semiautomatic weapons and their large-clip magazines.

"The majority of people wanted these guns out of the city," said Chris Mathiesen, Saratoga Springs' public safety commissioner. "They don't want them sold in our city, and I agree. Newtown, Conn., is not that far away."

The mayor of Barre, Vt., wants a ban on military-style assault weapons being sold at an annual gun show in February. Mayor Thom Lauzon says he supports responsible gun ownership but is making the request "as a father." The police chief in Waterbury, Conn., just a few miles from Newtown, has halted permits for gun shows, saying he was concerned about firearms changing hands that might one day be used in a mass shooting.

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In White Plains, in New York's suburban Westchester County, Executive Rob Astorino had brought back the show in 2010 after a ban of more than a decade following the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, but he said the show would be inappropriate now. The shows in the Hudson Valley and Danbury were listed as canceled on the website for Big Al's Gun Shows. A man who answered the site's contact number said it was the venues that canceled the shows, not the promoter.

In Houston, transportation officials temporarily stopped using electronic freeway signs to give directions to gun shows amid complaints following such a show the day after the Dec. 14 school shooting. State-level transportation officials overruled the decision. The signs are routinely used to direct traffic or tell visitors where to exit freeways for rodeos, sporting events and gun shows.

On Wednesday, the City Council in Saratoga Springs urged organizers of a downtown gun show Jan. 12-13 not to display military-style weapons and the high-capacity magazines "of the type used in the Newtown tragedy." About a dozen people gave impassioned pleas at the meeting.

Show organizer David Petronis of New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Associates agreed to the limit.

"I don't think it's fair that we're taking the brunt of the problem," Petronis said, "but I can understand the reaction of people in doing so."

Petronis said his group is a "nice, clean family-oriented ... arms fair" that brings in thousands of visitors and a lot of money for the city. He stressed that buyers at his show undergo background checks, as per New York state law.

The gunman in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December used an AR-15 to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in the school. The gun belonged to the shooter's mother, but it's not clear where it was bought. The shooting has led to calls for stricter regulation of assault weapons, though the National Rifle Association has steadfastly opposed such measures.

Gun dealers around the country are reporting a spike in sales of semiautomatic rifles amid renewed talk of a federal ban on assault weapons. The possibility of tighter gun control has also pumped up attendance at gun shows in several states.

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[joesapper]

So Gun apps are at record highs and the gun shows are getting record numbers , Who in the "Right" mind would want to screw with this or the second Amendment of Freedom and Liberty , but what is great , is that those who choice not to practice their right are totally respected and protected by those that choice to practice their Second Amendment right .

[TimeToRetire]

It's Eonomics 101. When the guns are flying off the shelves and the manufacturers can't keep up with demand, who needs gun shows? You hold gun shows and coin shows because you want to get rid of some merchantise. No shortage of buyers in the era of Obama. Now, if only he can do something about demand in the rest of the economy.

[andyv2k14]

Shame on the police chief and city councils. No incident, no matter how tragic, gives a municipality the right to restrict Constitutional freedoms. I could expect such actions from politicians (most of whom don't seem to honor the Constitution much anyway), but a police officer should do better. I wonder if this chief owns personal firearms (as a good many law enforcement officers do).

Sandy Hook was a tragedy, but what is more tragic is that we are signing away rights that millions of Americans have fought, bled and died to win and keep. I would expect a serving police officer to know better and respect the fallen more than his joker has. It's easy to get carried away with emotion, but a law enforcement officer, like a soldier, is expected to make unbiased decisions with regard to the Constitutional Law of the United States and without regard to his personal emotions.

[andyv2k14]

Whether or not you agree with firearms or so-called 'assault weapons' (which the AR-15 is not due to its inability to fire burst or fully automatic), a local police chief or town does not have the right to restrict the exercising of Constitution freedom unless said action would lead to a direct threat to public safety. Direct, not perceived, not theoretical. This police chief has overstepped his boundaries. He is an executor of the law, not the one who rewrites them. The police are supposed to uphold laws (ensuring that they follow proper licensing procedures) with reference to the Constitution and applicable state laws. Only in totalitarian states do the police decide what groups can and cannot hold assemblies arbitrarily like this. Unless he had credible evidence that someone was planning to buy a gun at the show to use in a massacre, he has no right to ban gun shows from applying. Cops need to start getting classes on the Constitution they are supposedly sworn to uphold.

[skeezix06]

Common decency, showing some consideration and respect for the pain and loss they suffered just before Christmas is why the gun shows should have been cancelled for a period of time. The guns shows will go on elsewhere if you just can't wait and, no doubt, will be rescheduled in that area eventually. It's not going to kill you to wait or drive elsewhere.

[judymar14]

Selling any type of gun at a gun show with out a background check by having a permit to own a gun should be a felony. This can be controlled by putting an end to those 'loop holes'.

We need gun-laws on who and who doesn't need an assault rife. In my opinion no one. But, would criminals obey assault rife laws? I think not.

More attention should be paid to criminals selling illegal guns of any kind. One place to start would be inner-cities across the country. It is the inner-cities that cause death rates to soar. 77% of the 500 murders committed in Chicago were gangbangers by guns. The other 23% were not committed by guns alone.

[andyv2k14]

That would be racist because most of those inner city neighborhoods are minorities and Jesse Jackson et al would launch a year long kicking and screaming tantrum. Just saying and we all know it's true.

[judymar14]

Yeah, Jesse and his pal Al would be flying all over the country getting protests started.

[joesapper]

Well I can say that I have NEVER supported assault weapons nor have I supported mega magazines , but what I do support is the Freedoms and Liberties that have been tested and secured repeatly through history as many other Nations of the free world have also secured in their unique ways of Liberty & Freedoms.
So the Second Amendment is one of those great Freedoms and Liberties that is unique to the USA and such Freedom must continue , and this is a conversation of views we are watching , and such conversations are best heard without demands on one side or the other .
Now here we see the shut down of gun shows in the short term while conversation and healing takes place , but if this shut down were to become law , than Big Corp would surpress the common people from trade and wealth of income , and that would be wrong , however there my be improvements to this this type of commerce.
I find it more than troubling that the same ones that conducted Fast & Furious are now wishing to impose a long gun registery on Law abiding people .
It is great to have a conversation without making demands .

[CuriousServant]

First, I want to state I do not wish to infringe on anyone's 2nd Amendment rights.

Since Newtown,CT I've been wondering what I would do in such a situation. I do not believe killing is right, almost under ANY circumstances. I have my doubts though. I think about the evil loose in the world during WWII and if there was ever a war that needed to be fought, it was that one.

I am a Christian. Actually, a Christ follower. My Lord, capable of anything, meekly let Himself be put to death. I might have that much courage, but it is difficult to say.

But, what would I do if I were at Sandy Hook Elementary that day, or Clackamas Town Center (it's only 20 minutes from here)? I would not want to kill that gunman, but I would want to do everything I could possibly do to stop him.

Should we do as the NRA suggests? More security? More guns? More violence? Does that match with my beliefs? If I believe it is wrong to kill, even to the point of rather dying than killing, is it any better to endorse killing by proxy by training and hiring others willing to do it for me?

Are there any other alternatives?

I awoke last night with a thought. If there were others like me, willing to rush the gunman, certainly one of us would be able to tackle him, and not kill. (And before some of you start telling me how stupid I am, consider we honor those who throw themselves on grenades for others.)

Is there something I could do to help me get to him? Would grabbing a trash can as a shield help? What if there were shields around? What if there were kevlar shields with little windows in the same places we would put security? And what if there were built in tasers on those shields?

I know, this sounds a little absurd... But imagine... what if it were so socially unacceptable to kill that all those with the courage to grab a gun and kill a bad guy had the same courage to grab a shield and subdue a bad guy? What if we made a statement to ourselves, as a society, that killing is wrong, in every form, and we were willing to do ANYTHING to avoid it?

That is the real point I want to make What if we felt so strongly that "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a commandment worthy of obedience? Right up to the point that we would be willing to shuffle off this mortal coil so we could face our maker without that sin on our souls?

Perhaps the shield idea is absurd (if it is I am certain many will be willing to point out how), butit WOUD be cheaper than armed guards, and it would be encouraging our society to look hard at violence in all forms.

Speaking of which, for those good folks who want to have guns, I haven't a problem with it... There are other elements of this debate besides banning assault weapons. The violence in movies and video games for example.

But, that is another point, another comment.

I'm just saying, I do not believe in killing, and perhaps there is a way I could help in such a situation if the proper tools were available.

[skeezix06]

Do you want your kids to grow up thinking they aren't safe anywhere without a gun? It's a simple as that.

[skeezix06]

Another way to put it. Do you want to teach your children to live in fear, 24/7? Is that what your family values consists of? Is fear the legacy that you want to leave your kids with?

[foo8259]

I think we are seeing the beginning of the end for the 'Gun Show' -- to bad. For us men it's like women going shoe shopping!

[tl29szzz920]

JL (sad satire)- "happiness is a warm gun".

The Lambs know they are living amongst the wolves, but only now are they realizing how many, how mad and vicious.

Does anyone really think Jesus would approve of us owning tools that are designed to kill.

[seabass6251]

You're kidding right?

[skeezix06]

As the hardline assault weapon backers keep talking, they appear to be the very ones who should be banned.

[anjianchen]

What I can't understand is why anyone would market high capacity magazines.
http://www.storemoncleroutlet.org/

[seabass6251]

Because the threat one may face is not always singular.

[kbbpll]

The fact that 40% of the guns in this country are obtained without a background check is absurd.

[seabass6251]

Realize too that the 40% figure is a government ESTIMATE since there are no hard statistics.