GUN SALES BANNED ON COUNTY PROPERTY; ORGANIZERS OF POMONA SHOW PLANNING COURT FIGHT.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to a ban on the sale of guns and ammunition on county property, including the county fairgrounds at Pomona.

Moments after the supervisors' 3-2 vote, operators of a gun show at the Fairplex said they planned to file a lawsuit as early as today seeking to overturn the ban.

``We are prepared to take immediate legal action not only on our own behalf, but on behalf of the 2,000 exhibitors at our show who would be damaged by this ordinance,'' said Chad Seger, manager of the Great Western Show, the largest gun show in the nation. ``If this goes into effect, it's going to put the show out of business.''

Seger said his company has a contract to hold two more shows in October and December and the county ordinance violates vendors' rights to sell legal firearms.

The board's action was the second of two votes required to adopt the ordinance, which will take effect after 30 days. It ended an afternoon of heated debate among supporters and opponents of gun shows.

Board Chairman Don Knabe pounded his gavel twice to silence rising voices. Knabe and Supervisor Michael Antonovich voted against the ordinance.

Support for the ban grew after the Aug. 10 shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and the killing of letter carrier Joseph Ileto in Chatsworth. White supremacist Buford O'Neal Furrow Jr., who confessed to the shootings, reportedly bought at least one firearm at gun shows.

Antonovich said detectives told him Furrow bought no firearms at the gun show in Pomona.

The gun show at the county fairgrounds also faced criticism after state undercover agents in May bought illegal weapons at the show. After that, the show's operators said they stepped up oversight and enforcement.

In July, federal agents went to the gun show and made contact with a vendor to arrange for later, off-site delivery of illegal weapons, authorities said.

``Because of one-tenth of 1 percent of the population, we're going to penalize 99 and nine-tenths percent of the people who do not violate the law,'' Antonovich said. ``It's like a Kansas storm - a lot of hot air and no rain.''

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who voted for the ban, said investigators the supervisors sent to the shows have found hate literature and other disturbing materials sold at the show.

``It's a hotbed for white supremacism, racism and anti-Semitism,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``These gun shows are bazaars for arms sales. It is common sense that if you have thousands of vendors and customers, you go there to buy an Uzi because you can remain anonymous.''

Karl Amelang, president of the show, said support for the ban came from politically motivated supervisors who took advantage of the shootings in Granada Hills and at Columbine High School in Colorado.

``Why could Yaroslavsky fly to New York to speak on a television show about his agenda, but he couldn't drive to Pomona to talk to us about it?'' Amelang asked.

Two Los Angeles boys were among the speakers in support of the ordinance.

``We and thousands of other kids are afraid of being shot,'' said Theo Milonopoulos, 12. ``Every year in Los Angeles County, at least 500 kids are shot, 180 of whom are shot to death.''

``If Thomas Jefferson were to walk into this assembly, right now, and learn that across America, 13 kids a day are being shot to death, we believe that he would be appalled at what is happening to America's kids,'' said Niko Milonopoulos, also 12.