Guns, knives star at fairgounds
Land of the Sky brings buyers, sellers together
Land of the Sky brings buyers, sellers together
If you go
The Land of the Sky Gun and Knife Show continues today at the Exchange Park Fairgrounds in Ladson. Doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults; children 12 and younger get in free.
LADSON — David and Jacquee Eller browsed the merchandise at the Exchange Park fairgrounds, which was transformed into a shopping mall of guns and knives.
They selected two pistols — a .45-caliber Rock Island 1911 and a .22-caliber Beretta — and within minutes, they passed criminal background checks and carried the new toys home.
This weekend, the Ellers and other enthusiasts browsed about 250 tables of antique and modern firearms, custom knives, military paraphernalia, swords and even jewelry at the Land of the Sky Gun and Knife Show.
Recent media attention has raised questions, however, about whether legally purchased guns can too easily end up in the wrong hands.
Last year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg sued a Summerville pawn shop owner and other gun store owners across the country for allegedly allowing guns to be sold illegally to straw buyers, contributing to violence in the Big Apple.
But earlier this week a circuit judge found that Larry Mickalis of Mickalis Pawn Shop can sue the mayor for branding the shop "a rogue gun dealer."
Mickalis alleges that the mayor and his representatives damaged his business and reputation by trying to falsely paint him as a nuisance gun dealer. He denied breaking the law and filed a fraud and defamation suit against Bloomberg, the city of New York and various investigators working on the city's behalf.
The Ellers know firsthand how sometimes legally purchased guns can end up in the wrong hands.
They said a teenager broke into their house almost two years ago and stole two guns, including a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol that was worth about $1,600. He resold the guns on the black market but was later caught, they said.
While illegal gun purchases have been the focus of some recent reports, the process for legally obtaining firepower can be quick and efficient.
"It's good that you can come and buy your guns and people can show 'em, and it's easy to do," David Eller said.
But of course, he added, first you have to pass proper criminal history tests. The tests typically take 5 minutes or less, organizers said, and are only for buying firearms, not carrying concealed ones.
Show promoter Mike Kent said he hosts about 20 or 25 shows each year. "This is one of the most basic freedoms we have," Kent said.
No loaded firearms are allowed at any shows. A nearly-full jar of cartridges collected from "unloaded guns" sits by the entrance. Kent said the cartridges have been collected over the years. "Our biggest thing is safety," he added.
Vendors sold holsters, samurai swords, handguns, rifles and pocket knives. There were also snacks for the kids, both big and little.
"It's great as a shopper," said Tom Glaab of the gun advocacy group GrassRoots South Carolina. "You can come to one place. It's kind of like going to a discount mall."
At the show, he passed out bumper stickers proclaiming "Guns Save Lives: 2.5 Million Defensive Uses Each Year."
Glaab said his organization works to rid state gun laws of unnecessary restrictions for carrying legal firearms and works to clarify legal jargon that might be confusing to some gun owners.
Ultimately, the group advocates for responsible firearm ownership, according to their Web site.
Reach Tenisha Waldo at 937-5744 or twaldo@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
pirate42 (anonymous) says...
COOL gun knive show WOW!!!! Now charleston has more wepaons on the street WAY TO GO!!! Ok to have shows but bring in ATF undercover to bust some of the ******** that sell them to our POOR miss Guided gang members, to me ther no better then Terriost Lets set up appointment with there maker let God sort them out
November 25, 2007 at 6:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MDW (anonymous) says...
I knew it was coming up but didn't know when. I would have liked to have gone as well. Love the bumper sticker they were passing out!
November 25, 2007 at 6:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BillytheKid (anonymous) says...
Too damn easy to get a gun, just look at where NC is in the "crime" ratings.
November 25, 2007 at 8:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
poorboy (anonymous) says...
Its proven time and time again that cities where guns are banned DO NOT have lower gun crime rates. Look at your nations capital D.C. where hand gins were outlawed in the 1970's how's that experiment going?
It's socioeconomics stupid! People, You just won't admit that in inner city areas (predominately black I'm afraid)there are no families,schools fail,jobs leave, guns, drugs and crime come in. Just read the SC DEPT OF EDUCATION PAC testing results on schools in your county and put two and two together.
I armed to the max!
November 25, 2007 at 9:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MDW (anonymous) says...
Felons can't get guns legally. They're either stealing them or someone that is able to buy them is giving/selling them to the felons.
Good point, Tripsa. People shouldn't brag that they have guns because it just makes the house a target for a break-in.
November 25, 2007 at 9:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Diamondhead (anonymous) says...
Whatever means a person uses to do harm to another, you don't regulate the means but the behavior. All these gun laws hasn't done anything do reduce crime. If an estrange husband takes a knife and kills his wife with it, society doesn't pass laws to regulate the knife yet when it comes to guns we have over 20,000 laws in this country regulating this object. In California they have a 10 day waiting period before you can purchase and take home a gun. Years ago I was in a gun store and a woman came in to purchase a pistol and requesting the salesman to instruct her how to use it. When the salesman told her that she had to wait 10 days before she can take possession of the gun she became irate and said, she can't wait 10 days because her husband threaten to kill her. Three days later, I read in the paper where a woman was killed by her estrange husband. I called the gun store to see if this was the same woman and it was. In San Francisco they passed a city ordnance to ban all handguns but it was overturn in the courts. In California there are over 65 pages of laws regulating guns yet these laws still hasn't reduce criminal behavior or crimes.
Liberalism will get us all killed if we're not careful.
November 25, 2007 at 11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
havesense (anonymous) says...
Um, I'm not sure about your house being a target to break in b/c someone knows you have guns. I'd think (especially if I were a criminal) that I would not want to try to break in someone's house who owns guns - in threat of getting shot/killed.
Oh, & you're damn right we need to own guns legally. Like the old saying if guns are outlawed the only people who'll have them are outlaws. Maybe it should be a little more difficult to get them - maybe you should have to take a class similiar to the CWP, but you can bet your a*^ that if you ever actually needed/used a gun to protect your family you'd be an advocate for safe gun use!
November 25, 2007 at 11:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MDW (anonymous) says...
Havesense - The break-ins are done while the owners are gone. At work, school, etc.
Several years ago a friend of mine was at work and had their house broken into for the sole purpose of stealing guns. They were of course reported stolen. (Talk about MOUNDS OF PAPERWORK and cops freaking out!) They caught the perps that did it before they could be used or sold.
November 25, 2007 at 12:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dianed43 (anonymous) says...
i don't care what any of you say. i am fromt he north. we did not have gun shows or pawn shops. there may have been crime, like there is everywhere, but unless you were in a major city you did not open up the paper every morning to read about another random shooting in a parking lot and the loss of all these young lives. you can defend it all you want but for 40 years i lived there and it just wasn't so. after 4 years in summerville and charleston i left the state because i just had enough. high crime rates and poor schools. they go hand in hand.
November 25, 2007 at 5:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GOP10 (anonymous) says...
Just what Ladson needed. More guns and more idiots running around with them.
November 25, 2007 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MDW (anonymous) says...
I'm a Damn Yankee myself. There ARE guns shows and guns are sold at these shows and pawn shops.
There's just as much crime up north.
November 25, 2007 at 5:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MDW (anonymous) says...
Sorry, Doug - This Damn Yankee is here to stay. I moved south years ago and have no intention of ever returning north. While the driving conditions down here are atrocious, the folks sure are a lot nicer.
Besides - It's fun "chatting" with all of you.
November 26, 2007 at 4:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Hey_U_Guys (anonymous) says...
Posted by Doug_Huffman:
"Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth. LAB/HRA/GOP KMA$$"
You sure do like to put this in A LOT of your posts.
November 27, 2007 at 7:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jammer (anonymous) says...
diane we didn't have people down here shooting each other everyday for centuries like we do now, the northeast has moved down here with their crime and things have gone haywire
but like the saying goes, if you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns
and if you're dumb enough to let the PC post your name and what weapons you bought you will probably not have them long... now the criminals know who to steal from and will just sit and wait for the opportunity, very stupid to post that
stats prove that the areas with the toughest gun laws are the areas with the highest crime rates
when you disarm the law abiding public the criminals know there is easy unarmed prey and take advantage of it, the criminals don't care about the law and do carry guns
Hitler disarmed the public, and then took over...
N.Chuck is the 7th most dangerous per capita, not per instance... which we all know is misleading
not to mention all these thugs here killing each other are carrying guns illegally so how would any gun law help anyway??
those criminals could care less what gun laws you pass, hence why we call them criminals
November 28, 2007 at 10:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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