HIGH COURT BACKS BAN ON FAIRPLEX GUN SHOW.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that Los Angeles County officials can ban the sale of guns and ammunition at the Fairplex in Pomona and other property owned by county government.

The court's 6-1 decision is expected to set off an avalanche of similar bans across the state. Representatives from at least 20 cities and counties filed briefs urging the justices to grant them such powers.

At a news conference, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the decision was a victory for public safety in California.

``I don't think there is any other conclusion anyone can draw than if it's tougher for crooks to get their hands on illegal weapons ... people are incrementally safer in our county as a result,'' he said.

The ruling was the latest development in a three-year legal battle between the county and Great Western Shows Inc., which had rented the Fairplex four times a year for 22 years before the Board of Supervisors banned gun shows in September 1999.

Jeff Schenkel, a spokesman for Great Western Shows, said the battle will now continue in the federal court system.

``This lawsuit is by no means over. This is going back to federal court, where the key issues are the constitutional issues of free speech and equal protection, which is what this case is really about,'' he said.

Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Rights to Keep and Bear Arms, said Great Western Shows expects ultimately to prevail in its efforts to hold gun shows on public property.

``Federal courts in California and elsewhere have already ruled that gun shows are a protected form of commercial free speech,'' he said. ``The California Supreme Court, with this decision, has cavalierly decided that the First Amendment does not apply to the Golden State after all.''

In the wake of the North Valley Jewish Community Center shooting in 1999, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to ban the sale of guns and ammunition on property owned by county government. The board also offered to give Fairplex $2.7 million in rent credits if Great Western Shows left.

In response to a lawsuit against the county, a federal judge ruled in favor of Great Western in late 1999, granting a preliminary injunction against implementing the ban.

County officials appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which asked the California Supreme Court to decide whether state laws regulating the sale of firearms at gun shows pre-empt a county ordinance prohibiting gun and ammunition sales on county property. The federal appellate court also asked whether state law allows a county government to regulate the sale of firearms on its property located in a city.

In their 21-page decision, the California Supreme Court justices concluded that state law does not compel counties to allow their property to be used for the sale of guns and ammunition, and counties may regulate the sale of firearms on their property in a city if the county ordinance does not conflict with city law.

The justices wrote that the widespread availability of illegally obtained firearms greatly contributed to firearm deaths and hospitalizations in Los Angeles County, and they noted that a sting operation by the Department of Justice uncovered significant illegal gun trafficking at the gun show.

``It's a bazaar for any kind of weaponry you can think of - bazookas, rocket launchers. You can just about cut a deal for any kind of weaponry,'' Yaroslavsky said.