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austinrealtor wrote: . . . The gun show's promoter is not the bad guy in this. He was given notice of all this on Thursday, knowing full well all his vendors would be setting up the next day. He was basically presented with an ultimatum from HEB, steered by BATFE and APD, to either post these "rules" or you don't have your show.

IANAL, but one party to a lease or rental agreement cannot abrogate the agreement or change its terms without agreement by the other party. Leases and rental agreements are essentially contracts, and if one side tries to weasel out of the specific performance of their side of the contract, they will be slapped down and probably pay some hefty $$$ in court, especially if they cost the other party some money.

There must be more to this than what we're hearing, even now.

tomc wrote: . . . it seems that HEB owns the building they use and the APD and BATF have gotten to them—threatening with the possibility of suit if there are sales on their property for non background checked transactions. Thus it’s the “landlord” not LE who is calling for the restrictions.)

The power of the landlord would be limited by the terms of the lease - one party can't unilaterally change the terms of the lease.

I remember when there was a regular gun show at the Coliseum at the old state fairgrounds - the City of Austin tried to terminate the lease, but a court stopped them, and the gun shows continued until the lease was up. Same principle here.

Of course, if the promoter is just renting the space on a monthly basis, that's a different story . . . and of course, once the lease is up for renewal, all bets are off. (I heard landlord problems were the reason the SAXET shows left Austin.)

the gun show promoter does not own the building and the building owner is understandably concerned about the threat of losing the building. Sorry, I can't say more at this time.

So there's more going on behind the scenes than wer're aware of . . . including (presumably) some legal wrangling that can't/shouldn't be made public yet.

Hmmmm . . .

If and when things are finally resolved, please post (as Paul Harvey would say) "The REST of the story."

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

HankB wrote:If they're now instituting asinine restrictions like the above, they're going to stay small. And I won't be making any contributions to their business model by attending.

It's not the gun show promoter's doing. Staying away will help Austin PD accomplish its goal of ridding Austin of gun shows.

Chas.

Charles, please set me straight if I'm misinterpreting what's been posted, but it sounds like some bureaucrat(s) simply made up a rule, issued an edict on their own (nonexistent) authority to legislate, and the promoter is following along even though there's no force of law behind it.

If there IS force of law, then you're right, it's not the promoter's fault.

Otherwise, it would seem he does bear some responsibility for implementation of the policy.

austinrealtor wrote: Based on what authority?

EXACTLY my first response!

I believe this is the same show that was in an old Target on I-35 last year - if so, it was a small show with almost as many vendors for Sham Wow, candy, etc., as there were for firearms . . . yet admission was HIGHER than for the SAXET show.

If they're now instituting asinine restrictions like the above, they're going to stay small. And I won't be making any contributions to their business model by attending.