APPEALS COURT FINDS GUN SALES OK AT COUNTY FAIR.

Byline: Bob Egelko Associated Press 

A ban on gun sales at a county fairgrounds violates freedom of speech by suppressing truthful statements about a legal product, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The problem with Santa Clara County's proposed ban was that it applied not merely to the exchange of money for guns but also to the verbal ``offering for sale'' of any guns or ammunition at the fairgrounds, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

``A proposal to engage in (a gun sale) is protected as commercial speech under the First Amendment,'' said Judge Joseph Sneed in the 3-0 decision.

Noting that gun sales were allowed in retail stores throughout the county, Sneed said there was no evidence on the record that the ban served any legitimate government purpose. It was added to the county's lease with the fairgrounds operator in January 1996 and struck down by U.S. District Judge James Ware six months later.

It was the first ruling on the issue by a federal appeals court, said Joseph Wargo, lawyer for gun exhibitors who challenged the ban. He said at least one other California county, San Mateo, prohibits gun sales at its fairgrounds, and others were considering similar measures.

The ruling ``protects the First Amendment rights of all citizens of Santa Clara County,'' Wargo said. He said neither the National Rifle Association nor any other organization was involved in the lawsuit.

Barrie Becker of the Legal Community Against Violence, a group of lawyers favoring gun restrictions who provided the county's representation in the case, said the ruling may be only a temporary setback.

She noted that the court expressly had left open the possibility that the county could impose the ban with an ordinance rather than a lease restriction. An ordinance would make fairgrounds gun sales illegal and reduce the county's need to justify the restrictions on speech, Becker said.

The ruling ``clarifies, for counties, that you can pass an ordinance that explicitly bans the sale of guns at your fairgrounds and you won't have a First Amendment problem,'' Becker said.

The court said it did not have to decide whether state law allowed local bans on gun sales.

Sneed, joined by Judges Edward Leavy and Michael Hawkins, relied on Supreme Court rulings that recognized constitutional protection for ``commercial speech'' that refers truthfully to a legal product.

The rulings allow restrictions on commercial speech when necessary to protect a substantial, legitimate concern of the government, an issue that also has arisen in cases on liquor and tobacco advertising. But Sneed said the county had not shown the necessity for a selective ban on gun sales at the fairgrounds.

The local supply of guns would be unaffected because sales were legal elsewhere in the county, Sneed said. He also said a ban was not a legitimate way for the county to send a message to the public that it opposes gun use.