Gun show approval throws leadership into question

It is legal to own a firearm in this country. That doesn’t mean we want Fort Lauderdale commissioners hosting a massive gun show eight times a year in Holiday Park and flooding our community with thousands of guns. What kind of leadership is that? Even after a massacre at the airport just six miles from the park, the commissioners refused to stop leasing to the gun show.

After hearing pleas from residents and receiving hundreds of postcards asking them to stop, they refused.

After learning that a gun is stolen every 26 minutes in Florida, they refused.

After learning that a child is shot every 17 hours in Florida and that we have the highest rate of road rage with a firearm in the nation, they refused.

After learning that a woman is shot and killed by her intimate partner every 16 hours in this country, they refused.

After learning that 93 people die from gun violence every day and that another 200 are grievously injured, they refused.

After the two worst massacres in our country, one where a lone gunman shot 600 people, they refused. Is it the money? They only receive $30,000/year in rent from the gun shows.

Why are the commissioners (with the exception of Dean Trantalis) more concerned about us tripping in the dark during turtle season than they are about us being killed by all the guns pouring onto our streets because of them?

What kind of leadership is that? Barbara Markley, Fort Lauderdale