What a Gun Show

This weekend will be Boulder City's Spring Jamboree. Typically, it's an event tailored for the whole family with an art fair, a car show, an antique show, plenty of kid friendly games, and more. And all of that will happen next weekend. And on top of all that, the Spring Jamboree will also feature the first annual Rocky Mountain Gun Show.

Wait, what?! No really, a gun show will be part of the Spring Jamboree. And thanks to Senator Dean Heller's (R-46%) recent move to block even a vote on gun safety legislation centered around closing "The Gun Show Loophole" for background checks, who knows who will show up in Boulder City for this?

On Saturday, local Boulder City activists were joined by Organizing for Action volunteers to protest both Senator Heller's capitulation to the gun lobby and Boulder City's shocking decision to include the Rocky Mountain Gun Show in the Spring Jamboree. After walking from the recreation center (where the gun show will be) to a nearby Episcopal Church, Barbara Polk explained why local residents are concerned about this.





And then, Esther Sass arose to speak of her brother-in-law's untimely death in front of the Empire State Building (in New York). He never had a chance, and that's only because his assailant had a gun. WARNING: The video below has a graphic image. Viewer discretion is advised.





A retired teacher also spoke in Boulder City. She worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and one of her students was shot dead. That was a horrifying experience that she will never forget.





And finally, ProgressNow Nevada and OFA super-activist Teresa Crawford came ready. She listed frightening statistics of Nevada guns that end up at California crime scenes. As we discussed in February, criminal outfits often buy guns in states with lax standards (like Nevada) and send them all over the place, even to states with strict gun safety laws (like California). And since there's currently no federal baseline for gun safety, it's difficult to curb this kind of trafficking.



And sadly, this is coming to Boulder City this weekend. It doesn't have to happen, but the Boulder City Council and the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce have been digging in their heels. All residents can do now is hope things don't get out of hand this weekend... And then, demand action to ensure this doesn't happen again. Oh, and they can tell Congress to finally get their act together on expanding background checks to gun shows and other "private sales".