At the extreme risk of winding up the debate again
I had a minor dim flash of insight that might help nail this one down:
Say there will be approximately 25,000 visitors per day to an average gun show around here. (I'm going to be making the numbers up based on perceptions and estimates of my own. Exact numbers are not that important to my point.) Two days (not counting Friday night) means 50,000 bodies in and through over the course of the maybe 20 hours total that the show is open.
In PA, I'd guess that about 1/3 to 1/2 will be carrying a concealed weapon. (That might seem high, but across PA's entire population around 7% hold a LTCF for better than 650,000 CCW folks statewide. I think that number would be a LOT higher among gun show attendees.) So let's say it's 1/3 of the 50K. That's over 16,000 who might carry through those doors.
Now we've all heard, and I'm sure no-one would debate, the old mantra that a holstered gun is a safe gun. The only time folks have negligent discharges is when the gun comes OUT of the holster. The most dangerous point in your carrying day is when you load or unload. That's true if you have mad skills, and true if you are a newbie, and true if you're too old to rack a slide -- everyone is at their least safe when loading and unloading.
BUT, the sign at the door says "no loaded firearms." What do you have these folks do? Surely the ticket takers are NOT staffed or equipped to handle safely unloading and clearing 16,000 concealed firearms. I've never seen a sand barrel/bullet-trap at the door. Without means to contain negligent discharges while unloading, the promoters would be practically FORCING frequent instances of property damage, injury, and even an occasional death were they to set themselves up as responsible for such processing.
So, where are all these good folks to go to unload? 16,000 folks facing in any number of directions more or less randomly drawing and unloading their carry weapon amongst the cars in a couple of acres of parking lot seems a nightmarish situation. And guess what? If the gun show promoter is liable (as the temporary property owner, as it has been presented) for what goes on inside, then he/she is just as liable for the "attractive nuisance" (why do I always think of J-Lo when I use that term?
) he/she's created just outside those doors. The ND in the parking lot that kills someone getting out of their car is just as much his/her problem as the one inside that killed Bubba Jerky (in our previous adventures on page 3). Even if there is a minutely reduced level of true liability for what happens out there, it isn't enough to matter. A dead gun show attendee or two in the parking lot of a venue has just the same social impact that the same number of perforated folks inside will have.
The difference is, instead of being a somewhat passive player as 50,000 folks shuffle through -- some probably armed, but not causing a problem, the promoter is now responsible for encouraging 16,000 folks to go play with their guns in the parking lot.
And that's not to even start to discuss the rampant firearm theft this would attract once word gets out that there will be at least one firearm left in 1 out of every 3 cars in that one lot!
Now, surely, no one would be so naive as to suggest or believe that all those folks would leave their carry weapons back at home. That would pretty much go contrary to the very principles we espouse here on THR. And, as several folks have said, it's not like all gun show venues are in fantastic gated communities where crime is a distant worry.
So, the smart folks who handle risk management issues like this have developed a perfect solution:
"
Tell everyone entering to unload all weapons. That will give someone a chance to verify one last time that the for-sale and for-trade guns coming in the door have been emptied, and lets them zip-tie the actions open to give everyone a quick visual verification.
But, DON'T put them through a metal detector or wand them! We can't open ourselves up to the liability of handling, or forcing them to handle/clear their weapons in the ticket line, NOR do we want to push all the CCW folks back out into that parking lot to unload under whatever conditions they can figure out for themselves. FAR, FAR better to let sleeping dogs lie. 99.9% of the guns carried in as private, defensive arms will be carried back out the same way, without causing a mote of risk or trouble.
And, yes, if a fellow or two forgets himself and draws his carry gun, we have a reasonable and predetermined method and justification for correcting his mistake and sending him on his way."
This IS how it is done. If the promoters and insurance companies wanted it to work some other way, they'd have it set up to work THAT way.
Knowing that this is how the system works, and that it is not "the golden path to heaven" or a moral high road of some sort, goes a long way toward understanding why so many of us make the choices we do.
-Sam
