No more gun shows on state property? California bill bans firearm sales at those venues

Gun shows on state property could soon be a thing of the past in California.

A proposed law would ban the sale of firearms or ammunition on state property, effectively barring gun shows from being held at any of California’s 73 state fairgrounds.

Senate Bill 915, introduced by Sen. Dave Min, D-Costa Mesa, was unveiled Thursday. The bill has yet to be assigned to a committee, but Min said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee that he expects it to go before the Senate Public Safety Committee first.

“County fairgrounds are supposed to be family-friendly venues and have long been associated with events like county fairs, 4-H events, rodeos and music festivals. However, they have become most well-known for gun shows,” Min said in a statement announcing the bill. “This needs to change, and this bill will finally get California out of the business of government-sponsored gun shows. While the Second Amendment allows for the well-regulated sales and purchase of firearms, the Constitution does not require that taxpayer-owned properties be used to facilitate those transactions.”

SB 915 is a follow-up to a bill that passed last year, Senate Bill 264, which banned the sale of firearms at the Orange County Fair and Event Center.

That bill also started out initially as a statewide ban, before it was narrowed down to just the Orange County site. Min said he believes his current bill will fare better in the committee process.

“I’m better aware of some of the politics and what we have to do,” Min said.

The senator said that his constituents were strongly in favor of SB 264’s passage, but that the reality is there are gun shows being held within an hour’s drive of his Senate district.

Min acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court has taken a strong position on the Second Amendment, but said “that doesn’t mean the state of California has to actively profit off of the sale of those guns.”

SB 915 is likely to draw opposition from gun rights groups. The National Rifle Association opposed the previous version of the bill.

“Studies have shown that firearms acquired at gun shows are not any more likely to be used in crime,” the group said in a statement at that time. “This legislation fails to adequately balance the need to prohibit all gun shows at state controlled property versus the interests of the gun shows’ promoters, vendors and attendees — individuals who will now be left with limited venues to convene to share in their mutual interest in the shooting sports in a commercial setting.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.