Online Petition Started to Permanently Ban Gun Shows from County Center

An online petition has been established calling on Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino to permanently ban gun shows from the County Center in White Plains.

As of this morning, Oct. 5, 329 people had signed the petition at MoveOn.org, and organizers are seeking 400 signatures.

Over the weekend, Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner wrote to Astorino urging him to ban such shows, following last week’s mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Astorino banned gun shows at the county-owned facility following the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., but the shows returned the following year.

An attempt to reach an Astorino spokesman for comment was unsuccessful.

The petition states:

Please permanently ban all gun shows at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY.

In 1999, gun shows were banned by former County Executive Andrew Spano in the wake of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. You also banned them temporarily in 2012 after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, when 20 students and 6 staff members were killed.

As Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner has said, it is not the place of government to encourage gun ownership. Please respect the wishes of Westchester residents, parents, students and taxpayers who do not wish to see our county buildings used to promote and facilitate gun sales.

Click here to view the petition.