To: Board of Directors of the Cow Palace Arena and Event Center

Stop Gun Shows at California’s State-Owned Cow Palace

State agencies should not promote and profit from the proliferation of guns and ammunition. Stop renting out the State-owned Cow Palace for gun shows.

Why is this important?

A State agency hosts five gun shows every year in the San Francisco Bay Area. The gun shows take place at the Cow Palace Arena and Event Center, which is owned and managed by a division of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Each show features hundreds of tables where firearms are bought, sold, and traded, with free admission for children under 12.

It is time for the Cow Palace to stop hosting gun shows. No State agency should promote and profit from the proliferation of firearms.

The US has more firearms than people—millions more. Our horrific gun violence rates reflect those numbers. The US gun homicide rate is more than 25 times higher than that of any other high-income country. Guns kill nearly 100 Americans daily and injure twice as many more. More than 730 children and teens were killed or injured by guns between January 1st and the recent March for Our Lives.

The Cow Palace’s local communities strongly oppose gun shows on public property. San Francisco and San Mateo counties, which border the Cow Palace, have passed unanimous resolutions specifically opposing gun shows at that venue. Six Bay Area counties—Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Sonoma—have passed laws banning possession of firearms, and therefore gun shows, on county-owned property. Those official policies have been amplified by the tens of thousands of Bay Area youth and adults who recently marched and rallied to protest gun violence and demand solutions.

But because the Cow Palace is owned by the State, it is immune from local control. The Cow Palace Board of Directors decides what events are held there. The Board members are state officers and must consider factors beyond maximizing revenue (although even profit-centered businesses have recently changed their policies regarding firearm sales and partnering with the NRA). The Board should listen to the local communities and stop hosting gun shows.

Sign this petition to tell the Cow Palace Board of Directors you don’t want a state agency to promote and profit from the sale of guns and ammunition. Tell the Board to stop renting out the Cow Palace to gun shows.

This petition will be presented to the Cow Palace Board of Directors at a future board meeting.