Santa Clara County supervisor proposes gun show ban after deadly Florida shooting

Byby Katie Utehs KGO logo
Monday, March 5, 2018
Santa Clara County supervisor proposes gun show ban after Florida shooting
A Santa Clara County supervisor is working to ban gun shows from all county properties following a mass shooting that left 17 dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- A Santa Clara County Supervisor is looking to ban gun shows at the county fairgrounds. However, in order to do so the ordinance would be more expansive, banning guns from all county properties.

The county tried to ban gun shows at the fairgrounds in the 1990's, but it was overturned in the courts. District 4 Supervisor Ken Yeager's new effort aims to avoid those hang-ups. "Even though guns are banned from county buildings, they're not banned from all county property like parking lots, parks and the fairgrounds," Yeager said.

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The Santa Clara County Fairgrounds currently hosts two gun shows a year, which nets the county around $12,000 in revenue.

Yeager said the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida spurred this most recent effort. He says many constituents complained about gun show billboards from the recent Code of the West San Jose gun show held at the fairgrounds last month.

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On Tuesday, he'll ask the board to vote in favor of having county council draft an ordinance. "What's a little bit different is this would apply to all county properties not just the fairgrounds and I believe that's how all of the surrounding counties here have been able to ban the gun shows on their property," Yeager said.

Yeager said it would be several weeks before the board would vote on any drafted ordinances. He said law enforcement and other authorized individuals would be exempt from the ordinance.

ABC7 News reached out to recent gun show organizers for comment, but have not heard back.