At least five people -- three in North Carolina, one in Indiana and one in Ohio -- were injured after weapons went off at gun shows Saturday, officials said, at a time when there's been renewed discussion about private gun sales at such shows.
The most casualties came
at the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, where attendees bolted --
with at least one woman wiping out in the frenetic scene -- when gunfire
rang out around 1 p.m.
Police later explained
that a a 36-year-old man from Wilmington, North Carolina, was
unfastening the case of his 12-gauge shotgun on a table near the show
entrance when it accidentally discharged. The man planned to sell the
shotgun at the show.
The bird shot ended up
injuring three people. One was a sheriff's deputy, who suffered a slight
injury to his hand and was treated and released at a local hospital
before returning immediately to work, said Joel Keith, chief of police
of the North Carolina State Fair.
A 54-year-old woman from
Benson, North Carolina, was being treated a wound to her right torso at a
local hospital, and a 50-year-old man from Durham, North Carolina, was
treated for an injured left hand, Keith told reporters.
"I want to emphasize that this is an accident," Keith said.
That said, Wake County
sheriff's investigators and the local prosecutor will determine whether
to file charges against the gun's owner, authorities said.
Sheriff Donnie Harrison
said he was unsure whether it was legal to bring a loaded gun on state
fairgrounds. However, when the state fair is held in October, it is
illegal to bring a loaded gun to the fairground because of the large
crowds, authorities said.
"This is state property. That's something we're looking into," Harrison told reporters. "It's early right now."
The shooting prompted
police to ban any private gun sales -- in which visitors bring their
firearms to sell at the gun show -- for the remainder of the two-day
show, which concludes Sunday, Keith said. He added there wouldn't be any
private gun sales on fairgrounds for the indefinite future.
The gun show was closed
after the shooting and will reopen Sunday. At that point, show vendors
can continue to sell firearms, which are already secured inside the
show, Keith said.
"If we thought if it was
a problem or a hazard, we wouldn't have this show," Keith said about
private gun sales at the show. "I'm sure there isn't anybody who hates
this more than the guy who owned this weapon."
Man shoots business partner with semi-automatic handgun
A person is in stable
condition at a northern Ohio hospital after being shot by his business
partner at a gun show run by Conrad and Dowdell Productions, said Medina
police Chief Patrick Berarducci.
The original owner of
the Taurus semi-automatic 9 mm handgun used in the shooting brought the
firearm into the show fully loaded. This is despite the policy of
searches to make sure all guns are not loaded and rendered safe before
others can handle them.
The man who bought the
gun told police that he took it out, then accidentally fired it, said
Berarducci. A single bullet ended up going into the arm and thigh of
this man's business partner.
Authorities don't know
who brought the loaded firearm into the gun show and sold it, added the
police chief. They'll file a request with the federal ATF to track this
person down.
The victim, meanwhile, is in good spirits with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Berarducci.
And in Indianapolis, a man walking out of the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife Show shot himself in the hand as he was loading his .45-caliber semi-automatic firearm, Indiana State Police said in a statement.
The 54-year-old Indianapolis man was sent to Wishard Hospital for treatment after being "slightly" injured.
"The investigation determined the shooting to be accidental, and no charges will be filed," police said.
Shootings occur as gun debate rages
Reforming private gun
sales -- at shows or anywhere else -- is among the changes that
President Barack Obama is now seeking by requiring background checks.
The president has called
for action in the wake of last month's shooting at a school in Newtown,
Connecticut, which left 27 people -- 20 of them children age 7 or
younger -- dead. Gun control activists have likewise pushed for changes,
while gun rights advocates have said restrictions on gun sales are
unnecessary and in defiance of their Second Amendment rights.
Currently, federal law
requires background checks on gun sales by federally licensed firearms
dealers, who are often among the vendors at gun shows.
Saturday's incidents
occurred on 'Gun Appreciation Day," an event led by a gun rights group
that urged Americans to "go to your local gun store, gun range or gun
show with your Constitution, American flags and your 'Hands off my Guns'
sign to send a loud and clear message."
Sen. Charles Schumer, a
New York Democrat, last Sunday issued a statement predicting this event
would drive up sales of things like "assault-style rifles," which have
already "skyrocketed" in the wake of the Newtown mass shooting.
Jabari Richards, a gun enthusiast, told WRAL at the Raleigh, North Carolina, show that he thought some reforms were wise.
"I think there should be
background checks for everybody," Richards said, "because then you know
they ... are capable of having a gun."
But another man at the Raleigh show said it was useless for Washington to step in.
"The gun laws that they have on the books aren't enforced, don't do any good," Al Galbraith said.
