The Crossroads of the West gun show has been a fixture at the state-owned Cow Palace in Daly City for a quarter century. Despite years of opposition from local and state politicians who want it out of the building, and a series of national tragedies involving assault weapons, the gun show thrives.

An estimated 10,000 people thronged to the show on Saturday, the first day of a two-day event. Its record-setting attendance has been pumped up by talk of new gun controls after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Federal reports show December set a record for gun-related background checks, a strong indication that sales were high.

A number of gun shows and their venues across the country showed restraint after the elementary school shooting on December 14 claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and five teachers. An Associated Press story on January 5 said, “Heightened sensitivities and raw nerves since the Newtown shooting have led to toned-down displays at gun shows and prompted some officials and sponsors to cancel the well-attended exhibitions altogether.”

That wasn’t the case at the Cow Palace Saturday.

One Crossroads of the West attendee, Bob Daziel, told KGO-TV the crowd there was enthusiastic and motivated by the fear that “Obama wants to take everybody's guns away. So they're down here buying ammo, buying guns, they're getting ready for the next revolution.”

Vice President Joe Biden met with parties on both sides of the gun debate last week at the behest of President Barack Obama, and afterward said he would probably release a list of policy recommendations on Tuesday. Expansion of background checks is certain to be high on the list.

Biden identified it as a high priority and said closing the “loophole” that allows purchasers of weapons at gun shows to avoid the checks is just a starting point. Gun enthusiasts don’t consider the provision, which allows those who aren’t professional dealers to sell weapons without a background check, a loophole; just a transaction between two private individuals that the government shouldn’t mess with by overreaching with the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.    

Local and state politicians have tried to end gun shows at the Cow Palace for almost a decade. In 2004, then-State Senator Jackie Speier tried to kick the gun show out, but her measure failed in the Assembly.

State Senator Mark Leno gave it a shot in 2007, but his legislation failed in the Senate. He reintroduced it in 2009 and won over the Assembly and Senate, but the bill was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It had the support of then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who has since become attorney general, and then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, now Lieutenant Governor.

Even if opponents of the gun show are successful, it won’t be the end of guns in the neighborhood.

The Cow Palace straddles Daly City and San Francisco and is across the street from the Sunnydale housing project. Between 2005 and 2009, when Leno’s Senate Bill 585 was vetoed, 44% of homicides and more than 30% of guns seized in San Francisco city and county occurred in those communities, law enforcement officials told the San Jose News.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

Bay Area Gun Show Draws Record Crowd, Odd Items, Colorful Characters (by Mike Rosenberg, San Jose Mercury News)

Estimated 10,000 Attend Gun Show at Cow Palace (by Tomas Roman, KGO)

Sales of Guns Soar in U.S. as Nation Weighs Tougher Limits (by Michael Cooper, New York Times)

Bill Would Ban Gun Shows at Cow Palace (by Christine Morente, San Jose Mercury News)

Biden Sees Emerging Accord on “Universal Background Checks” for Gun Buyers (by Philip Rucker and William Branigin, Washington Post)