This Weekend's Pembroke Pines Gun Show Will Be Its Last
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The City of Pembroke Pines is pulling the plug on any future gun shows.
In a letter to Khaled Akkawi, owner of Florida Gun Shows Inc., Pembroke Pines City Manager Charles Dodge wrote that the city will honor the existing agreement for this weekend at the city center, but will not be entering into any additional license agreements for gun show events at the facility.
"As you may know, the City is currently the plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging certain provisions of Section 790.33, F.S., related to the state preemption of the regulation and sale of firearms. The matter is currently on appeal in the 1st District Court of Appeals. The City does not intend to reconsider its position on this matter until after the conclusion of this litigation, if at all," wrote Dodge.
During the last gun show at the Charles F. Dodge City Center in September 2019, protesters showed up. Residents felt the event gave the city a bad look, since it was held a few weeks after the deadly mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas.
Residents and activists tried to get city commissioners to cancel the show. Commissioners said they couldn't because of their contract Florida Gun Shows Inc. and if canceled, it could violate a state law that prohibits elected officials from making regulations on guns.
Broward County gun shows were originally held at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale before that city ended their contract.
