SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Some state properties, such as fairgrounds in District Agricultural Associations (DAAs), lease a portion of their fairgrounds to entities that sponsor marketplaces popularly known as “gun shows,” at which firearms and ammunition and other items are sold to the public approximately five times a year on average among state fairgrounds.
(b) The United States has experienced many gun-related tragedies with increasing severity and frequency in the last 30 years, including mass murders at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook
Elementary School, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and an increasing rate of suicide by gun among all levels of society.
(c) Various California cities, such as the Cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach, and Encinitas have adopted resolutions requesting that their local Del Mar Fairgrounds (DMFG) Board discontinue leasing any portion of its property for use as a gun show. A committee appointed by the Board of Directors of the 22nd DAA to study gun shows conducted research, including inspection tours of the Del Mar Gun Show by members of the committee as well as by several other members of the DMFG Board.
(d) In direct response to this community concern, Assembly Member Todd Gloria passed AB 893 into law, banning gun shows from the DMFG, setting a precedent for gun show
legislation in California.
(e) Gun shows bring grave danger to a community, and the following dangerous incidents, among others, have occurred at gun shows, including, but not limited to, an official vendor accused of trafficking illegal firearms, sales of firearms to individuals registered in the Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms Armed Prohibited Persons System, and illegal importation of large-capacity magazines.
(f) Promoters maintain relationships with a core group of vendors, some selling guns and some selling other merchandise, who travel as the schedule dictates from city to city and state to state and in the west, for example, many of the same vendors can be seen at Crossroads of the West Gun Shows from San Francisco, California, to Tucson,
Arizona.