Cow Palace hosts gun show despite recent school shootings

DALY CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- On the heels of Friday morning's shooting in Arizona, the Cow Palace will once again host the gun show this weekend.

There have been several attempts to shut it down, all unsuccessful.

More than 300 tables were being set up for this weekend's gun show at the Cow Palace. More than 4,000 people are expected to attend. Rob Templeton is with Crossroads of the West' the organizer of the event. He says sales are expected to be slow this time around, but, he claims it has nothing to do with the recent mass shootings.

"Every time there is pending legislation people are worried they are going to have their gun rights taken away and that makes people come a lot more," Templeton said.

This time there is no pending legislation.

A few California lawmakers have tried to keep the gun show from coming to the Cow Palace. Counties like Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and even Los Angeles banned these shows. The building, which is located between San Francisco and Daly City sits on state land.

California legislators have twice passed a bill that would give supervisors in San Francisco and San Mateo counties the chance to decide if they want it or not.

"Why does the state impose a gun show in these very dangerous and heightened times when crazy things are happening every day of the week?" said state senator Mark Leno.

But two governors, Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown have vetoed both. It's likely supervisors in San Francisco would vote to ban the gun show.

In a few weeks, they will vote on another bill requiring that the only gun shop in town, High Bridge Arms, video tape every transaction and send it to the police department. Instead, the shop has decided to close at the end of the month.

State senator mark leno who has one more year in office says he'll introduce legislation again to try to ban the gun show at the Cow Palace. Until then, organizers insist their show will go on.