Tuesday afternoon the Tucson City Council approved a measure requiring background checks at all gun shows held on city-owned or managed property.  The measure, co-sponsored by Councilman Steve Kozachik and Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, received a unanimous vote of support from all Council members.  This measure will effectively bar gun shows from the Tucson Convention Center, unless the operators agree that background checks will be conducted on individual gun sales.

Commenting on the measure’s passage, co-sponsor Karin Uhlich stated “The response to this measure has been overwhelmingly in support of reasonable, safe guns for the public.  It is very clear to me that Tucsonans want us to take any and every step that is within our power until there are safeguards in place and reasonable laws put in place [and enforced] at the national level.”

I strongly agree with the editorial in this morning’s Daily Star,  urging the county to follow suit and require gun-sale checks at all gun shows conducted on county-owned or managed property.  These measures are not treading on anyone’s second amendment rights.  To the contrary, they will simply impose a reasonable requirement for background checks for gun show sales,  to make it more difficult for felons and other persons legally barred from gun ownership to procure  these deadly weapons.

As year ago January I was appalled that the Crossroads organization, which operates gun shows throughout the west, held a widely-published gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds on the very weekend that marked the first anniversary of the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others.  This massacre perpetrated by a deranged individual, which took the lives of 6 innocent people, in all likelihood cut short the political career of a brilliant, fair-minded and extremely dedicated public servant.   Again, I am appalled by the arrogance and insensitivity that the proprietor of this event demonstrated by staging a gun show in our community on the  first anniversary of that  horrific  event!

I personally believe that the greater majority of gun owners are responsible, law-abiding citizens who advocate both responsible  gun use and responsible, common sense restrictions to ownership of these deadly weapons.  Along these lines, it is interesting to note that the Associated Press recently reported a  survey of NRA members, whose findings  indicated that the majority of NRA members are in favor of background checks for all gun sales!

In closing, the City Council’s unanimous vote in favor of the background check requirement for all gun shows held on city-owned or managed property represents an important victory that all Tucsonans should rightfully be proud of.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Gun Control, Gun Show Background Checks. Tags for this post: NRA, Steve Kozachik, Tucson City Council. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.