Hitler’s desk not coming to gun show

Organizer says City Center will not let him bring item

David Petronis planned for months to bring a desk used by Adolf Hitler to the city over Labor Day weekend for the NEACA Saratoga Springs Arms Fair, but the City Center has told Petronis not to bring the item.

“I really wasn’t considering the controversy putting this together [a couple] months ago. Things happened in the meanwhile,” said Petronis. “I guess with the controversy that we’re starting to engage in, I am not going to be bringing Hitler’s desk to the show. That is going to solve that problem.”

Petronis said although the desk won’t be present Sept. 2 through Sept. 3, it will still go up for auction.

“We can be just as sensitive as the next person, so I know we won’t be bringing that. It’s still going to up for auction. The auction is going to be in Ohio. It’s a Milestone Auction,” said Petronis. “If

people want to protest the sale of something, I mean that’s up to them. It’s not going to stop the sale of the auction, all it’ll do is probably increase the notoriety of the fact that it is an item that is going up for sale.”

The gun show has happened 104 times at the City Center over the last 32 years, with the last this past Memorial Day weekend.

Organizers of the Saratoga gun show were told in April 2016 that it would be dropped from the City Center’s schedule of events after its show in August 2016.

Then-City Center Executive Director Mark Baker said it was purely a business decision and not a reaction to political pressure, despite the fact the gun show was dropped just days after the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee called on the City Council to ban gun shows from the center.

Baker on Thursday said that he approves of the decision. “We applaud and support the City Center Authority’s decision to not host historic artifacts that lack sensitivity to many in our community,” Baker said. “Now more than ever, we need leadership that heals and brings people together.”

In January it was announced the gun show would return to the City Center.

PHOTO PROVIDED This photo shows a writing desk allegedly used by Adolf Hitler. The organizer of the Saratoga Springs gun show said he intended to bring it to the event, but has changed his mind.