Protesters out-numbered by thousands at gun show

PEMBROKE PINES — While about three dozen gun-control supporters were protesting against the Florida Gun Show in Pembroke Pines on Saturday, thousands of people were inside the City Center shopping, taking permit courses, joining the NRA and registering to vote.

The Saturday morning demonstration also featured several people exercising their First Amendment right to freely debate the interpretation of the Second Amendment right to own a firearm.

Daniel Zemon was among them. Wearing a President Trump hat, the 19-year-old Pembroke Pines resident waded into the crowd of impassioned protesters.

“They have the right to protest,” he said. “I’ve had some good discussions with them. I mean, it’s actually productive, I think.”

Activist Barbara Markley was among those who successfully lobbied to end the decades of gun shows at War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale. Her focus has shifted to Pembroke Pines.

“I think people are sick and tired of the government protecting the gun lobby and not protecting the people,” she said at the demonstration, which was organized by the Democratic Women’s Club of Western Broward.

Gun-show owner and operator Khaled Akkawi booked the Charles F. Dodge City Center at

601 City Center Way from 10 a.m. to

5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. He estimated that more than 6,000 people would attend this weekend. Two more shows are scheduled in September and January.

He talked with a few protesters as the show opened. Some were friendly. Some were not.

“The First Amendment is just as important as the Second Amendment,” he said. “They have the right to do what they’re doing and we have the right to be here.”

Gun-show opponents attended a city commission meeting Wednesday to argue that the publicly funded City Center should not host a private enterprise, especially a gun show.

“What benefit is it for our government to use our taxpayerfunded facilities to enable more guns on the streets?” said Markley.

Mayor Frank Ortis told the attendees on Wednesday that the city

could not break the contract, which was signed months before the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton re-energized the gun debate.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association was busy signing memberships in the bustling lobby

of the City Center on Saturday, while a voter registration table set up near the exit was comparatively quiet.

JENNIFER LETT/SUN SENTINEL Gun control supporters protest at Pembroke Pines City Hall during a gun show on Saturday.

JENNIFER LETT/SUN SENTINEL About three dozen gun-control supporters protested against the Florida Gun Show on Saturday.

MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/CONTRIBUTOR Pembroke Pines gun show draws a large crowd on the first day of the two-day event at the Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines.