Gun Fanciers Undeterred by School Killings

At what was billed as the world’s largest gun show Sunday in Pomona, business was brisk at tables covered with weapons and accessories as buyers and sellers alike said the school slayings in Colorado haven’t changed their enthusiasm for the right to bear arms.

As a would-be customer eyed a shotgun, gun dealer Bruce Ramsey reflected a widespread sentiment when he called the murders at Columbine High School “a tragedy. I feel terrible about it,” he said.

But Ramsey, like many others, was concerned that the school shootings would trigger tougher gun control laws. “Gun control doesn’t work,” he said. “Criminals don’t obey the laws.”

Outside the entrance to the Great Western Gun Show, the National Rifle Assn. was busy signing up new members. As an inducement, the NRA offered a way to avoid the $7 admission fee. “Don’t pay. Join the NRA,” a loudspeaker blared.

“We’ve got a lot of people signing up because their 2nd Amendment rights are in jeopardy,” said Sandy, a recruiter with the NRA, who like many others, didn’t want her full name used. “We’re here to protect our own.”

Gun owners are facing mounting pressure from a public concerned about the apparent ease of obtaining weapons that students then turn on each other and faculty members.

President Clinton last week unveiled legislation to further limit access to guns, reinstate background checks on all gun sales and impose such checks on prospective buyers at gun shows.

With about 50,000 people streaming into the three-day gun show, “it’s a good opportunity” to bolster the organization’s ranks, said Thomas Audetat, an NRA staffer.

Unlike the abbreviated NRA national convention in Denver on Saturday, which drew a huge crowd of anti-gun demonstrators, there were no protesters in sight at the Pomona show.

Next to the NRA table were recruiters from another organization--the Republican Party. Wearing an NRA cap, San Bernardino Central Committee member Matt Brown said he was registering voters and seeking signatures on an anti-car tax initiative. “A lot more gun owners are registered as Republicans,” he said. “We’re sympathetic to the issue of less government control.”

Inside, more than 2,200 exhibitors at more than 5,000 tables displayed everything from antique firearms to modern semiautomatic pistols and shotguns. There were boxes of ammunition, body armor, military jackets and fatigues, rifle bags, pistol holders, magazines and books.

At tables and display cases, customers examined Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Glock and other pistols and shotguns, checking their grip and feel. There were scopes, field glasses, ammunition containers, and all manner of gun and military memorabilia, plus Y2K survival kits, water filters, packaged food and toys. At one booth, customers were urged to “Go Ballistic with Duck Armor.”

Chad Seger, operations manager of the show, described business as “phenomenal” and said those who attended are mostly history buffs who like to collect antique weapons, hunters and sport shooters.

A small number carried shotguns and pistols that had been inspected at the gate, apparently hoping to sell them. Some had hand-lettered signs advertising what they were selling.

There were no arrests at the show on Sunday, a day after undercover Pomona police officers arrested five people for illegal sale of firearms.

Milling about were families with young children, sportsmen, veterans of all ages and gun collectors. They expressed the feelings of many about the shootings at Columbine. “It’s a horrible situation. Totally sad,” said Linda Williams of Cathedral City as she held her 9-month-old daughter, Hailey. “It’s just horrific.”

As Williams spoke, her husband was inside one of the Fairplex buildings displaying and selling the knives he makes. Like others, Williams drew a sharp distinction between the guns themselves and the Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. “People are responsible for their own actions,” she said.

Agreed Dave, a diesel mechanic who likes target shooting and hunting: “I don’t think the guns had anything to do with it. . . . These kids were really messed up.”

He expressed concern about efforts underway in Washington to tighten gun control laws. “Don’t take away the average citizen’s right to protect his family,” he said.

Levi, a security guard from Lancaster who would like to be a deputy sheriff, was looking to buy a semiautomatic pistol after a recent break-in at his home. His wife, a preschool teacher who would not give her name, said she and the couple’s two daughters, ages 3 and almost 2, came to the show because he wants to. “Guns have never been a big thing for me,” she said. “He’s looking for guns.”

But because she and the girls are home at night while he’s working, she may “have to learn to protect myself” from someone who threatens to cause “harm to me or my children.”

Levi said he wanted to buy a weapon to provide “safety in the house when I’m not there.” And both said they will take safety precautions, including shooting lessons and possibly buying a gun safe--another item on sale at multiple locations throughout the show.

Safety also was on Seger’s mind. One way he hopes to change the twice-a-year show is to make it “more of a family event where people can come here and learn.

“It’s unfortunate that places like the Great Western and gun shows in general get blamed because of these two kids,” he said.