Pima Board of Health Votes to End Anonymous Sales at Gun Show

The Pima County Board of Health has voted to require that only Federally Firearms Licensed vendors can sell weapons at gun shows at the Pima Fairgrounds. This will end sales by unlicensed gun dealers who sell guns anonymously without a background check and without keeping records.

“Background checks are the only way to identify and prevent prohibited possessors, straw purchasers, and gun traffickers from purchasing firearms,” said Board Member Mike Humphrey, who proposed the resolution. “Are activities occurring at the gun show held at the Pima County Fairgrounds a threat to public safety? Yes.”

The Board of Health Gun Show Resolution cited the need to protect public health and safety against gun violence, and passed by a 5-1 vote, with only Dr. Kathryn Kohler, a registered Republican in Green Valley, voting no.

Molly McKasson, Nancy Bowman, and I testified in favor of the resolution, representing Citizens for a Safer Pima County. “I went to a gun show and was able to purchase two AR-15s, a handgun, and a 110-round magazine without providing a name, address, or driver’s license. Nothing. Certainly not a background check,” said Nancy Bowman, the nurse who survived the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson.

“We can drastically reduce gun violence and reclaim our democracy from the terror of random mass shootings,” said former Tucson Council Member Molly McKasson.

The cost of gun violence

Humphrey recited a series of alarming statistics:

• Firearm-related violence represents a growing public health and safety threat to all Pima County inhabitants. in 2020, 213 persons were killed with firearms. So far in 2021, 134 persons have perished.
• Firearms-related violence disproportionately threatens the public health and safety of minority populations within Pima County. Both Blacks (90 per 100,000) and Native-Ameri- cans (59 per 100,000) have firearm-related death rates in excess of Whites (50 per 100,000).
• Firearm-related violence represents a staggering human and economic cost to Pima County. In 2020, there were 541 hospital and emergency visits (437 persons) for firearm-related injuries (53 fatal, 488 non-fatal).
• Billed hospitalization costs for those injuries totaled $28,260,808. 72% of those costs were defrayed by public funds. Based on the current numbers of firearm hospitalizations, it is estimated that firearm injuries in 2021 have cost $9,768,506.
• In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that medical and work loss costs for firearm-related violence in Arizona averaged over $1,000,000 per victim. Other significant firearm-related violence costs not accounted for include: emergency response, law enforcement, criminal justice, incarceration, and quality of life.
• Prohibited possessors” accounted for 21% (205 out of 958) of all persons charged with firearm-related violent crimes in Pima County in 2020.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives conducted a “sting” operation on June 19-20, 2021 at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show held at the Pima County Fairgrounds targeting “straw purchasers.”

Notorious gun bazaar

Next, the resolution will be sent to the Pima Board of Supervisors to take effect. Supervisor Rex Scott has agreed to introduce the resolution, and he has the support of the Democratic majority of the board, including Matt Heinz, Adelita Grijalva, and Sharon Bronson.

The call for background checks also has the support of County Attorney Laura Conover, County Sheriff Chris Nanos, Mayor Regina Romero, and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, to name a few.

The notorious Crossroads of the West gun show is an open arms bazaar, where unlicensed dealers sell guns for cash with no records and no background check. Buyers include felons, domestic abusers, the mentally ill, and people who failed a background check.

On July 19 in Tucson, a gunman murdered three people. He had served six years for attempted armed robbery, but he was able to get the gun at a private undocumented sale — like those made at the gun show. Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus has said criminals know that the best place to buy a weapon with no questions asked is the gun show.

Around 80% of all firearms acquired for criminal purposes are obtained from unlicensed gun sellers, according to Giffords.org. Making a dangerous situation worse, convicted gun felons operate the Pima County gun show: gun show owner Bob Templeton served six months in prison for illegally running guns to South Africa, and his son Jeff Templeton, the organizer, was sentenced to prison for firearms violations.

The gun show will return to Tucson on Sept. 18-19, however, a vote by the Supervisors may take place before that.