May 15, and 16, 2010 a NO Background
Check gun show came to Yakima. As the Yakima Valley Peace Advocates
Network, nine of our members protested that show, by wearing mock bullet-hole
shirts, splattered with catsup and red spray-paint. In order to form a
protest, our group lay out on the ground outside the Modern Living Building,
posing as dead and wounded, where the gun show was utilizing property on the
Central Washington State Fairgrounds.
As we expected the security people at the gun
show told us to leave, which we declined to do.
Three police cars arrived, and while we
remained they made numerous phone calls, trying to establish if we were doing
anything wrong. At length, the police informed us we were on private property,
which we questioned, but since some of the members of our party were not
willing to experience arrest we elected to leave.
The group bringing in the gun show, is making
an end run around state and federal laws requiring background checks for gun
purchases by claiming they are "collectors-private sellers." In this way
they sell guns not as merchants, but as individuals.
Our reason for protest, is the mounting gun
violence that is becoming ubiquitous in Yakima, and the ease with which
firearms and ammunition can be purchased. We suggest that it is
just insensible to allow a wide-open gun show, where no questions are asked,
and the only requirement to purchase a gun and ammunition is money and proof
of age.
Perhaps of interest to your viewers, these
sales are a violation of the Lautenberg Law, officially called Public Law
104-208, which says that felons, domestic-violence offenders and unstable
individuals cannot lawfully own, buy, sell or possess guns and ammunition.
Without background checks, how can gun shows determine the backgrounds of
individuals?
We have no beef with gun owners, sportsmen and
other gun enthusiasts. There are at least nine licensed and legal gun dealers
in Yakima, allowing gun purchases along with background checks.
We planned our protest too late on Friday night
(the gun show began on Saturday) to really give the media a fair notice of our
intent. We feel it would have made a very graphic story and would have brought
home the illegal traffic in guns that is happening in Yakima and other cities
around the country.
Our members are open for interview at your
convenience as a follow up on this story. The Yakima city council, in their
meeting, June 1, favored a Gang-Free-Initiative Committee to deal with gangs,
guns and the most recent assassination of an 18-year-old.
Yakima
Herald May 16, 2010
Gun
show demonstrators not allowed on fairgrounds
BY
MARK MOREY
YAKIMA,
Wash. -- Demonstrators at a Yakima gun show were asked to leave Saturday after
police determined they were on private property.
The
demonstrators, affiliated with the Yakima Valley Peace Action Network, were
protesting the so-called "gun show loophole" at a gun show organized by a
Montana company at State Fair Park.
Larry
Breer, a leader of
the peace group, said mem-bers organized the event
because of deaths related to gun violence in the Yak-
ima Valley. The group
regu-
larly holds anti-war demon-strations around Yakima.
Breer
said a security representative for the gun show called police shortly after
the eight or nine demonstrators arrived about 1 p.m. and positioned themselves
on the grass across from the building where the show was held.
The
demonstrators wore shirts with fake bullet holes, and a child wore a shirt
daubed with simulated blood, Breer said.
Police
determined that the fairgrounds should be treated as private property, so they
asked the demonstrators to leave, Sgt. Brenda George said.
George
said she expected to ask city legal staff to review the matter.
Even
though the fair-grounds is owned by Yakima County, it is managed by a private
association, fair officials said Saturday. Only people attending scheduled
events are authorized to be on the property, said Greg Lybeck, assistant
general manager for the fair.
Breer
said he is not opposed to gun ownership, but he believes that sales at public
events should be more tightly regulated.
Regular
dealers must have a license to make public sales, which require background
checks, but private gun owners do not have to run the checks. Opponents of
private sales
at gun shows say that creates a loophole for guns to get in
the hands of felons, domestic violence convicts and the mentally unstable.
"I
agree a lot of them are sports people and are not killers, but the doors are
open to anyone," Breer said.
Representatives
for the show's promoter, Sports Connection Inc. of Montana, and the security
contractor, Crowd Management Services, declined to comment.
Gun
show supporters point out that legal sales may be made by private gun owners
outside of a show and that intentionally selling to an unqualified buyer or
intermediary is already illegal.