On the same day Tucson residents commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Tucson shooting that left 6 people dead and 14 others wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Crossroads of the West will hold a gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds.
But Tom Zoellner, a former campaign volunteer for Giffords, shared his view.
"Gun shows are common in Arizona. This isn't, by itself, unusual, and I'm sure the organizers meant nothing disrespectful," Zoellner, the author of A Safeway in Arizona:What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State and Life in America tells New Times. "The more important thing we need to consider is the huge loopholes in our state laws -- they're so gigantic they aren't even holes -- that allow American guns to be trafficked to fuel the drug carnage in Mexico and make it all-too-easy easy for a mentally ill person to get access to a firearm."
In Arizona you don't need to be a federally licensed dealer to sell firearms. You can also easily purchase high-capacity magazines like the one Jared Lee Loughner used in his shooting rampage at the Tucson Safeway.
"Just because you're in favor of sensible gun laws doesn't make you at all anti-gun, and I wish politicians would stop deliberately conflating the two just to get elected," added Zoellner.
