Gun shows toned down after Newtown
Source: Agencies |
January 6, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MISSING from a gun show at Saragota Springs in New York next weekend will be some of the most popular guns.
Show organizers, facing pressure after last month's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, agreed to bar the display and sale of AR-15 military-style semiautomatic weapons and their large-clip magazines.
"The majority of people wanted these guns out of the city," said Chris Mathiesen, Saratoga Springs' public safety commissioner. "They don't want them sold in our city, and I agree. Newtown, Connecticut, is not that far away."
Heightened sensitivities since the Newtown shooting are softening displays at gun shows and leading officials and sponsors to cancel some.
The mayor of Barre, Vermont, wants a ban on military-style assault weapons being sold at an annual gun show in February. Mayor Thom Lauzon says he supports responsible gun ownership but is making the request "as a father."
The police chief in Waterbury, Connecticut, just a few miles from Newtown, has halted permits for gun shows.
In New York's suburban Westchester County, officials decided against hosting a gun show next month in White Plains, about an hour's drive from Newtown.
And three shows in New York's Hudson Valley and Danbury, Connecticut, were listed as canceled on the website for Big Al's Gun Shows. A man answering the site's contact number said the venues canceled them.
Meanwhile, gun dealers are reporting a spike in sales of semiautomatic rifles amid renewed talk of a federal ban on assault weapons. The possibility of tighter gun control has also pumped up attendance at gun shows in several states.
Marv Kraus, who helped organize a weekend gun show in Evansville, Wisconsin, said business has been strong lately. "Gun sales have been crazy," said Joel Koehler, a gun dealer who operates shows in Pennsylvania.
Gunman Adam Lanza used an AR-15 to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
Show organizers, facing pressure after last month's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, agreed to bar the display and sale of AR-15 military-style semiautomatic weapons and their large-clip magazines.
"The majority of people wanted these guns out of the city," said Chris Mathiesen, Saratoga Springs' public safety commissioner. "They don't want them sold in our city, and I agree. Newtown, Connecticut, is not that far away."
Heightened sensitivities since the Newtown shooting are softening displays at gun shows and leading officials and sponsors to cancel some.
The mayor of Barre, Vermont, wants a ban on military-style assault weapons being sold at an annual gun show in February. Mayor Thom Lauzon says he supports responsible gun ownership but is making the request "as a father."
The police chief in Waterbury, Connecticut, just a few miles from Newtown, has halted permits for gun shows.
In New York's suburban Westchester County, officials decided against hosting a gun show next month in White Plains, about an hour's drive from Newtown.
And three shows in New York's Hudson Valley and Danbury, Connecticut, were listed as canceled on the website for Big Al's Gun Shows. A man answering the site's contact number said the venues canceled them.
Meanwhile, gun dealers are reporting a spike in sales of semiautomatic rifles amid renewed talk of a federal ban on assault weapons. The possibility of tighter gun control has also pumped up attendance at gun shows in several states.
Marv Kraus, who helped organize a weekend gun show in Evansville, Wisconsin, said business has been strong lately. "Gun sales have been crazy," said Joel Koehler, a gun dealer who operates shows in Pennsylvania.
Gunman Adam Lanza used an AR-15 to kill 20 first-graders and six educators in Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
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