The California State Assembly approved legislation Wednesday that would prohibit gun shows at the state-owned Cow Palace because of high amounts of gun violence in the area surrounding the venue, according to the office of state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.
The Cow Palace is a concert and entertainment center that lies on the southern border of San Francisco and the northern border of Daly City, and currently allows gun shows, which are exhibits with hundreds of tables providing a variety of guns.
“It is unconscionable that a state-owned property is being used to promote weapons of death,” Leno said in a statement.
“This is a neighborhood that experiences disproportionate rates of gun violence, and residents and community leaders have long urged lawmakers to end the gun shows that literally take place in their backyard.”
The venue is situated across from the Sunnydale public housing project and is close to the communities of Visitacion Valley, Bayview-Hunters Point, and the Mission District.
According to Leno’s office, 44 percent of San Francisco homicides have occurred in those communities.
The bill has also been sponsored by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.
“Residents living in the shadow of the Cow Palace already suffer enormous human and fiscal costs from the high rates of gun violence in their communities,” Harris said in a statement. “Citizens should have the right to keep the sale of dangerous weapons from taking place in their backyards.”
Senate Bill 585, which would prohibit gun shows, passed the Assembly by a 45-33 vote Wednesday. On June 3, the state Senate had passed the bill by a 21-18 vote.
The bill will now return to the Senate for a concurrence vote before heading to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
The bill is nearly identical to legislation Leno introduced as an assemblyman in 2007, which passed the Assembly but not the Senate, according to his office.
