Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.45) on October 28, 2000 at 08:33:
Teitelbaum drops fight against fairground gun shows
by Myra Mensh Patner, Gazette Staff Writer, Oct. 27, 2000
After being the first state legislator to press officially for an end to gun shows at the Montgomery County fairgrounds, state Sen. Leonard H. Teitelbaum Thursday became the first to drop his opposition.
Teitelbaum said he changed his mind on the gun shows after lunching with the fairgrounds board and determining it was not fair to focus on its long-time practice of leasing to gun promoters.
"These people do nothing more, nothing less than they do at a gun store," Teitelbaum said. "I'm going to change my mind."
It was Teitelbaum who sent a letter Oct. 2 to the Montgomery County Agricultural Center and Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg asking its board to voluntarily suspend the twice-a-year gun shows by Oct. 15 or face action from the General Assembly.
At the time, Teitelbaum said he would not have voted to approve a $400,000 bond bill in 1998 to improve the fairgrounds if he had known the fairgrounds had hosted gun shows since 1990.
There was a gun show last weekend at the fairgrounds and another is set for Jan. 6-7.
State Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda also sent a letter to the fairgrounds asking to end the shows but gave no deadline.
The letters prompted the fairgrounds' board to invite Teitelbaum and Frosh to a lunch meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue.
Discussions with board members persuaded Teitelbaum that the group had been unfairly thrust into a national controversy that was not of their doing, Teitelbaum said.
"I don't think these people should be singled out. I'm not going to pursue it," he said.
Frosh said the lunch did not change his mind.
"I urged them to change their policy and not lease to gun shows. I still don't think they should do it," he said. "My view is we shouldn't subsidize gun shows."
Frosh said he is committed to supporting a bill being developed by state Sen. Ida G. Ruben (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring to end gun shows that take place on public property, such as Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, which is owned by the bi-county Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
A gun show is set for Nov. 11-12 at Show Place Arena, with more shows to take place in February, July and November 2001.
"It's a public agency and we have the right to set public policy," Frosh said, adding that he will work with Ruben to seek legislation to ban public money for private venues that hold gun shows.