Senator Dave Min Condemns Orange County Fairground Decision to Hold More Gun Shows

Min’s Senate Bill 264 (SB 264) would prohibit gun sales on county fairgrounds.

SACRAMENTO, CA — Following yesterday’s vote by the Orange County Fairgrounds Board to hold four gun shows this year, Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine), the author of Senate Bill 264 (SB 264), which would prohibit gun shows on state and county property in California, released the following statement:

“The Orange County Fairground Board’s decision to hold four gun shows this year — during the middle of a pandemic no less — is grossly irresponsible and endangers the lives of Orange County residents,” Min said. “The last thing we need in our communities is more gun shows, especially given the many reports of ghost guns and other unlicensed firearms being sold at gun shows. As study after study shows, more guns lead to more gun violence. 

“Yesterday’s vote was wrong and it endangers our public safety. While I am disappointed, I am also more determined than ever to make sure we enact SB 264. As we’ve seen too many times, when it comes to gun shows, we cannot trust our local Fairgrounds Boards to do the right thing. The state must step in.”

The Board of Directors of the OC Fair & Event Center voted 5-1, with Board member Ashleigh Aitken being the sole no vote, to approve a contract proposed by the Crossroads of the West to hold four gun shows at the OC Fairgrounds this calendar year, with the first of these shows to take place in March. Orange County is currently in the “purple tier” indicating that it is still at high levels of COVID-19 infections.

SB 264 was introduced last month and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Public Safety Committee on March 16.

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Dave Min represents California State Senate District 37, which is located in Orange County and includes the communities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park.

Dave was a University of California Irvine law professor and a former economic policy staffer in the United States Senate and for the Center for American Progress. He began his legal career at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the retirement security of seniors, turning down high paying jobs to serve the public interest. Dave and his wife Jane live and work in Irvine, where they are raising their three young children.