Lawsuit Challenging Gun Show Ban Far From Over.

Attorneys Fees and Costs To County Taxpayers Continue To Mount.

On June 10, the United States District Court denied Alameda Countys motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the owners of a gun trade show that challenges Alameda Countys 1999 ordinance banning gun shows at the Alameda County Fairgrounds (Nordyke v. Alameda, C-99-04389MJJ). The case will now proceed to an expensive trial on the Equal Protection and First Amendment constitutional challenges to the ordinance.

The gun trade show had been held lawfully at the fairgrounds since 1991, until the ordinance banned the show in 1999. The gun ban lobby has been urging local governments to ban gun shows, claiming local governments have that legal authority. But as the recent ruling confirms, these ordinances are subject to costly legal challenges.

The case is far from over. The case will now go forward in the trial court, having already cost Alameda taxpayers dearly. In the six years since it was filed, the case as the case has wound its way through the state and federal courts, including the US Supreme Court, to resolve collateral legal issues. Alameda County taxpayers will continue to pay its privately retained law firm for what is shaping up to be a costly trial, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have already paid. And if plaintiffs prevail at trial, the County will face millions of dollars in fees and damage claims from plaintiffs.

In a similar suit, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors paid $1.6 million dollars (in addition to its own attorneys fees) to settle a claim made by the gun show promoter in the sister case to Nordyke (Great Western Shows v. County of Los Angeles). Other lawsuits have been filed, and more in the works, against the few other counties that prematurely passed similar ordinances. Decision