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T he C oast News - I nland E dition
JULY 26, 2019
Residents speak out on reinstatement of Del Mar gun shows By Lexy Brodt
Shows, as well as several gun advocacy groups and gun show merchants, to file suit in January. In mid-June, U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo issued a preliminary injunction to allow Crossroads to continue holding shows pending the final outcome of the lawsuit. For the past 30 years up until 2019, Crossroads has held five shows a year in Del Mar. In her memorandum opinion, the judge called the board’s ban on the event “presumptively unconstitutional. As of mid-July, the lawsuit’s discovery process is on hold as the parties begin set-
tlement discussions, according to Crossroads Attorney Tiffany Cheuvront. Cheuvront told The Coast News that if a settlement has not been reached by Sept. 10, the plaintiffs will once again pursue litigation. “I think everybody is trying to work towards a solution that will work for everyone,” Cheuvront said. At the somewhat atypical July meeting, residents lauded the board’s original decision to ban the event while studying the possibility of holding gun shows for solely educative purposes, and implored the state-appointed board of directors
to “(do) the right thing” in light of the injunction. The only item in question was the lawsuit, and officials and residents were given a total of 30 minutes to address the board before closed session. The board did not make any comment on the lawsuit. Most of the meeting’s attendees were members and supporters of NeverAgainCA, filling the room with orange in their signature anti-gun T-shirts. The Del Marbased organization actively opposes the sale of firearms and ammunition at the stateowned property, and has done so since the high school shooting in Parkland, Flori-
da, in early 2018. Despite recent outcomes favoring Crossroads, NeverAgainCA members and advocates remained optimistic. Rose Ann Sharp, the group’s founder, pointed to a bill by Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) that would ban the sale of guns and ammunitions at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The bill could be passed by 2021. “The arc of history is bending in your direction,” Sharp said. “It should now be clear to everyone how the story will end in Sacramento.” The meeting also drew public officials from the cit-
ies of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas — all of which have passed resolutions opposing the sale of firearms and ammunition at the fairgrounds and are “foursquare against having gun shows at the fairgrounds,” said Del Mar Mayor Dave Druker. One speaker, Lance Pelky, spoke in support of the gun shows, citing second amendment rights. “Let’s educate about gun safety,” Pelky said. “But trying to ram rules down our throat and change the law is not the way to do it.” According to the Crossroads website, the gun show will return to the fairgrounds on Sept. 28-29.
BILL
will allow California-based freelancers to continue to work and media companies to continue to hire them,” wrote the organization in a July 15 blog post. “As introduced, the bill would have required newsrooms to make freelance writers part-time employees — something editors will tell you is easier said than done for reasons that have nothing to do with the worker exploitation this bill seeks to address.” California News Publishers, a trade association representing the state’s news industry, also opposes AB 5, publishing its own amendments in response. Many of the prongs are similar to those in the latest version of AB 5, but there is no limit on the number of times
a reporter can “provide content” to any client and it would only apply to a defined “news organization.” In response to the Society for Professional Journalists article, Gonzalez threatened to pull the media industry amendment provision in its entirety. “You’re troubled by recent changes?” she wrote on Twitter. “I will be happy to cut them all out to have no mention of journalists if that’s what you prefer?” Gonzalez did not directly cite which media organizations or associations helped craft the 25 pieces of content number in response to a request for comment. “After many discussions with dozens of journalists and publishers, it’s clear
that there is a bright line between a true freelance journalist and what would otherwise be a part-time employee because of the amount of control a publication has over a journalist’s work that is regularly receiving assignments,” Gonzalez said. “It’s clear that producing content more regularly than every other week — or 25 times a year — for the same publication shows that business has the kind of control that you see from an employer.” But Gonzalez did cite a few unions who had expressed concerns with the California News Publishers framework on Twitter. “It would allow a company to convert 100% of their workforce to IC, would
threaten current International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists & Writers Guild of America West jobs,” she wrote. “Also could be used anytime a newsroom tried to unionize.” Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Francisco), the chairman of the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee, called for more transparency in how certain industries landed exemptions in the minutes before the AB 5 vote took place at the July 10 hearing. “One of the most commons questions I get from my constituents is why the bill looks the way it does. In
some cases, the answers are easy and in other cases, less so,” Hill said. “In a bill this far-reaching, there's a need for maximum transparency and communication in why some occupations are in the bill and others aren't.” Sept. 6 is the last day any bill can be amended and Sept. 13 is the last day for any bill to pass. Hill said that, when all is said and done, many workers might be disappointed with the end product. “I want to make one thing clear, we’re not able in this bill to address every individual who has reached out to the legislature for some solution,” Hill said. “I think that’s clear. We’re not going to see that in the legislation.”
DEL MAR — The 22nd District Agricultural Association Board room was filled with a few dozen impassioned community members at a July 16 meeting, with residents speaking against the temporary reinstatement of a longstanding gun show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Community members implored the 22nd DAA board of directors to “stay the course,” after the fairgrounds’ governing body voted in September 2018 to put a moratorium on the event for the duration of 2019. The move spurred show operator Crossroads of the West Gun
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agents, truckers, and others. The amendments have addressed some of those grievances. One of the more vocal opponents, however, has been the journalism industry — including The Coast News — and the latest amendments aim to resolve some of those concerns. But qualms still remain among some, including the Society for Professional Journalism’s San Diego chapter. “While we agree that employers need clarity on how to classify their workers, SD-SPJ and other media organizations have asked Gonzalez to consider adding exemptions to the bill that
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