According to a video by the gun show, "During the last year, Crossroads of the West gun shows attracted over 400,000 customers."
Crossroads of the West is billed as the biggest gun show in the country. This is state property and the state has no problem with the shows.
This spring, state Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, proposed a bill that would have required both San Francisco and San Mateo supervisors to approve gun shows at the Cow Palace.
Both boards already went on record opposing the gun shows. So if the bill became law, gun shows there would have ended.
The legislature passed the bill but Gov. Brown vetoed it.
The show's owner, Bob Templeton, says the bill was not good for the state.
"It would have cost taxpayers about a million dollars to replace the revenue that the gun show generates for the state," he said.
The show comes in the wake of the shooting at the airport in Los Angeles. .
A gunman fired an AR-15 rifle, killing a TSA agent and wounding several others.
Now, again, the question of banning high powered weapons.
Templeton says the answer is not about guns.
"Until we can address the issues, the underlying issues of mental health, we're not going to be able to get a handle on stopping these horrible mass shootings," Templeton said.
Gun rights advocates argue that it really boils down to a Second Amendment issue, pure and simple.
Congresswoman Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, has sponsored several gun buybacks. She's an outspoken advocate for a federal ban on gun shows and assault weapons.
"No one wants to take anyone's guns away from those who rightfully owns one," she said. "But no one needs an assault weapon."
The show opens this weekend. As usual, the Cow Palace parking lot will be filled. Thousands will attend.
