Lake County Councilman Charlie Brown (D-Gary) and Councilwoman Christine Cid (D-East Chicago) announced their support for a proposal to ban sales of “AR-15” firearms at gun shows held at the Lake County Fairgrounds. What they are proposing is to restrict lawful, tax-paying businesses from selling legal products to law-abiding citizens, who wish to exercise an enumerated constitutional right, at a taxpayer-funded venue during an event where the show promoter has paid to rent it. Licensed firearm dealers are bound by federal law regardless of whether firearm transfers take place at a gun show or at their regular premises. Their sales at the fairgrounds are subject to the exact same recordkeeping and background check requirements.
The Council’s next meeting will be on July 12th. The agenda for the meeting and the exact text for any proposed ordinance are not yet available. Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org and your email inbox for further details. In the meantime, please contact Council members and ask them to OPPOSE any such scheme to ban arbitrary categories of firearms.
