Story here. Their refusing to allow them on city property might be lawful, but it strikes me that regulating private gun shows that occur within city limits would be preempted by Texas’ preemption law.
5 thoughts on “Austin Looking to End Gun Shows?”
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Thank you for the link back.
I had not considered the preemption angle, and I am not a lawyer, but you may be right about that. In any case, I shall be contacting both Austin city council members and Travis County commissioners Monday morning.
Also, while Austin and Travis County may be a liberal enclave, they’re bordered by Williamson and Hays counties. Both are extremely conservative; trying to ban gun shows in either county would fly like a brick. Worst comes to worst, I suspect the gun shows will just pack up and move to Round Rock, Pflugerville, or Georgetown.
They tried this earlier this year, but I can’t find the link… And yes, Round Rock would welcome the business!
I’m in Austin (Moscow on the Colorado). And the County is trying to ban gun shows in the County owned fairgrounds. Looks like the fight is on. The county has signed a lease for the gun shows and stands to lose $250,000 on rentals if the ban goes thru, not to mention what a breach of contract suit will net. I posted the recall procedures at the local paper site. If Dwight Brown sees this or anyone else in Travis County or Austin wants to get involved, I can be reached at nealatkins@grandecom.net
The city of Asheville NC is also looking at preventing gun shows on city property. The Agriculture center where they are held is partially leased by the city so they think thy have some leverage here.
The show went on today despite the city council efforts though. Was very crowded with I’d estimate a few thousand in line before the doors opened. Had one sole protestor standing outside the gate with a “No Assault Weapons” sign.
If we can hold them off in Illinois, we can hold them off anywhere, but we need to carpet bomb the legislatures both locally and federally to do this. If Obama is forced to act unilaterally with executive orders, we can probably count on picking up the U.S. Senate in ’14.
Somehow I see compliance with universal registration being “unexpectedly” low.