Schedule for Mesa’s Convention Center 2013 Gun Shows: Jan. 12-13, Mar. 9-10, June 29-30, Sept. 28-29 and Nov. 9-10.
Is this the kind of activity we, Mesans, want our city to host and support? Is it just the economic aspect which makes Mesa accept this?
I read in your paper Jan. 9 that gun shows are the best place to buy firearms without having one’s background checked.
In 2002, you printed our Legislature, in its wisdom, barred “cities to impose restrictions,” such as these background checks, as had been advocated in 1999 in Tucson “after a triple murder at a local pizza shop”.
Yes, as Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly pointed out this week, there is no doubt that the NRA exerts too much influence and that our legislators are playing its game.
I hope we can reverse that.
Isabelle Main
Mesa
mikedurham posted at 8:23 pm on Tue, Jan 15, 2013.
Isabelle,
Great letter!
Mike Durham
WakkoWarner posted at 9:14 pm on Tue, Jan 15, 2013.
Any purchase of a firearm at a gun show from a licensed dealer requires a background check. Private individuals can purchase firearms from another private individual with no background check - just like all private sales elsewhere. There is no 'gun show loophole' as is touted by opponents of firearms.
There is nothing wrong with these gun shows. If you start trying to restrict or eliminate constitutional rights (rights that are, by the way, not granted by the constitution, but protected by it), where does it end?? This is a very slippery slope to start down.
If the government spent all the time and money they waste trying to restrict firearms on mental health issues, this country would be much better off. Criminals will ALWAYS obtain firearms no matter how much you restrict law abiding citizens right to own them. No amount of gun laws or restrictions will ever change that.
Tex57 posted at 11:58 pm on Tue, Jan 15, 2013.
Isabelle, there is alot of guns shows in Mesa, because people enjoy guns in this city. There are more people killed in cars than guns. Should we close car dealers in this town because of this?
LogicRules posted at 12:04 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
There is no such thing as a "gun show loophole"...just another fabrication of the media and YOUR government. All sales by licensed gun dealers subject the buyer to a federal background check...private sales do not; for all intents and purposes that is the only difference between commercial and private sales of firearms. This applies to all sales and all locations. The private seller of a firearm at a gun show can also sell you that firearm in the parking lot of a Macy's department store, or the living room in your house. All sellers of guns, commercial or private, are required by law to adhere to the federal, state and local laws pertaining to the sale of firearms.
masterbruce posted at 4:26 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Hello Isabelle,You must not have lived in Mesa for very long,cuz there`s always been a lot of gun show in Mesa and Phoenix.I`t kind of a ritual
masterbruce posted at 4:36 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Yes it`s kind of a ritual here in Mesa and Phoenix.too.[thumbup]
ram1009 posted at 6:00 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
How sad. You actually think one little gun sale every 2-3 months is excessive. I believe the only way to please people like you is to un-invent guns. Good luck with that.
hdlvr posted at 6:45 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Ma'am - I am sorry that you are offended by the number of gun shows in the area. The truth of the matter is that Arizona has always been, and will continue to remain a very pro-gun state, regardless of your letter.
Likewise, Arizona allows private parts sales of firearms. This means person to person - A dealer does not necessarialy have to be involved.
If you do not like the laws here, and are unable or unwilling to to deal with something that is very much a part of the Arizona culture and lifestyle, then I suggest you move someplace with stricter gun laws, no gun shows, and people that do not care about their constitutional rights.
hdlvr posted at 7:23 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Oops! Typo - I meant private PARTY sales.
(early morning funny, I guess).
Bluepoet posted at 8:26 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Isabelle,
Yes, it's financially in the interest of the city to have gun shows. Haven't you heard:? It's all the rage, to buy and have guns lying around, for the criminals and crazy people to have more of a choice--and a chance, to have access to them.
Besides, how could we build those huge "sporting goods" stores, without the constant induced fear that we must have guns, in order to fend off the "revenoors"? You wouldn't be advocating that all those people lose their jobs, would you? Not in this economy!!
Personally, I'm waiting for the day when Mesa has a gun show AND a skinhead convention...it will be a good day to visit Tempe...or, maybe Sedona...
openureyes posted at 10:48 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Lots of new commenters on this one - I wonder if they're being paid to be obtuse.
If, instead of calling it a "gun show loophole," we call it "the asinine lack of laws regarding private sales of devices designed to kill - exploited 95% of the time at gun shows," then can we move forward with doing something about it?
Bluepoet posted at 11:13 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Slabside, please feel free to keep your stupidity to yourself...I've been listening to you "Love it or Leave It's" for more than 40 years, and your provincial views don't interest me...
Bluepoet posted at 11:20 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
Slabside,
I do feel free to leave, except that, you know, I live here, so you can feel free to keep your quaint provincialism to yourself...
Bluepoet posted at 11:36 am on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
heh..apologies for the double post...didn't think the first one went through...
And, yes, I'm all crushed, too--see you at the next show...(will you be the one with the Citadel brochures, again, since you seem to be living in your own private Idaho, anyway?)
Bluepoet posted at 3:22 pm on Wed, Jan 16, 2013.
I guess we're even then, because I think the sky is just fine, although a bit more brownish than blue, than I'd like...must be from all those "others" who just won't leave town...