(October 8, 2000) ... or at least that's what Montgomery County legislators seem to think, in light of the latest fabricated crisis now escalating. Activists on staff at the Gazette newspaper are alerting local politicians that the fairgrounds are home to gun shows. Starting from this simple fact, Gazette activist-in-chief Myra Mensh Patner has doggedly pursued local politicians demanding that they do something about it. By creatively playing politicians' quotes against one another, she has, over a long sequence of articles, egged them on into a frenzy. Once one pol is on record, the rest must pile on. After all, in Montgomery County, no politician wants to be outflanked on the left. Net result? Feverish chanting about banning gun shows, though nobody can quite say just what problem suggested this action in the first place.

The fairgrounds are privately owned. Several years ago senators passed a bond bill for the owners in order to put in upgrades. These senators now argue that since some state money went into the fairgrounds, they get veto power over all events held there. If so, then the state's $400,000 donation is a shrewd way to gain total control over what is surely hundreds of millions of dollars worth of prime real estate. Interestingly, none of the legislators working to sell Gazette newspapers decry use of the fairground for religious activities (an issue of separation of church and state, if they had any intellectual honesty in their position); they apparently support the left wing activities held at the facility (such as an annual "gay rodeo.") They remain undeterred in light of legal cases from other localities that suggest their denial of equal opportunity could cost county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil penalties.

If the matter seems tailor-made for justifying new legislation in Annapolis, then you're right. Senators are already using threat of future predatory legislation as a way to coerce the fairground owner into playing ball. (Didn't Gerry Evans get 2.5 years in the slammer for coercing groups by threat of predatory legislation? Ahh, but we digress ...)

The target of all this angst is Frank Krasner, owner of the Silverado Gun Shows. Most people in our community know Krasner as a straight-shooting businessman who puts together a good event, as he has regularly for more than a decade. Unlike portrayals in the Gazette, gun shows in Maryland are one of the most heavily regulated places in which to do business involving firearms. In spite of Krasner's terrific track record, Gazette efforts will have 'Million Mom Marchers' descend in protest on his next show in Montgomery County, scheduled for October 21-22.

In our view, gun owners' most effective counter protest would be to show up in droves, remain up-beat and have a good time. A 10,000 person gate would show the county what economics are at stake should they indulge in social engineering. The county itself has much to lose: its events get 'sweet deals' at the fairgrounds, whereas gun shows pay the bills. After politicians kick out paying customers, who but taxpayers will cover costs for county-run events?

This is not the Gazette's first foray into anti-gun activism. It was none other than Myra Mensh Patner who whipped up the last round of gun control enacted in Montgomery County. Using exactly the same techniques, legislators were baited to discover that a gun shop called "The Gentleman Hunter" was near a park where kids play. (Okay, so kids couldn't really play there because it's such a dump, but Patner never let facts get in the way of a good tale.) Nobody ever articulated any relationship between safety and the proximity of a school to a store. In spite of this, shocked and anguished legislators passed the Gun Free School Zone law of 1997 (while selling a lot of Gazette newspapers.)

Gazette articles concerning that 1997 effort describe a real emergency in need of new legislation. So ... now that the law has been in place for three years, it's reasonable to ask: has it quelled the big emergency and saved our children? Well, it's hard to say, actually. You see, here in the third year of this gun control law's existence, Montgomery County has yet to write any regulation showing how it should be implemented. Nobody has gotten around to it.

No county authority has had any ability to enforce this "critical law" since it was put on the books. Gun controllers' true colors are shown when a crisis can be resolved simply by passing the law without actually doing anything about it. How credible are the Gazette's characterizations of the current 'problem' when the same people didn't even notice that nobody was legally able to do anything about using the last restrictions they jammed down our throats?