Westchester Lawmakers Vote To Ban Gun Shows On County Property
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Westchester County lawmakers voted 9 to 8 in favor of banning gun shows on county property, however, it was mostly symbolic since they do not have enough votes to override an expected veto.
Cora Greenberg, head of the Westchester Children's Association, supported a ban.
"It's not a question of individual rights, people can buy guns at many, many places but this is a question of how do we want to use our county, publicly-owned asset in a way to promote public health and safety," Greenberg said. "We don't want the county property used in this way, but also because the county has a responsibility to protect the health and safety of the community and we think this is the wrong direction to go."
Republican Legislator David Gelfarb, who voted no, favors new restrictions on local gun shows.
"State law requires, and these guidelines require, that every single sale of a gun at a gun show is subject to the Safe Act, subject to the National Instant Identification System, to have undercover police walking around and uniformed police to make sure that there is no attempt to sell a gun without adhering to those laws. Those laws apply to every single gun sale in New York State," Gelfarb said.
The shows were banned in 1999 after the mass school shooting at Columbine, brought back in 2009, when Republican Rob Astorino (R) became county executive, then cancelled again after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and now it's back.
A gun expo at the Westchester County Center will likely go on as planned in a couple of weeks.
The county executive told The Journal News it will be well policed.
