The Tucson City Council voted 4-2 on Feb. 6 to require background checks on all gun show sales at the Tucson Convention Center (TCC), according to the Arizona Daily Star.

The city’s plan is to have licensed firearms dealers perform the checks for private gun sellers, who are legally prohibited from accessing the federal government’s instant background check computer system.

Because the state prohibits cities from regulating gun sales, the city will make it the responsibility of the gun show promoter, as a condition of renting the TCC, to have a licensed gun dealer available to do the checks for private sellers.

The plan, which closely mirrors one approved by voters in Colorado and Oregon voters last November, includes provisions for private sellers to pay the licensed dealer a nominal fee for their services.

Promoters who fail to provide for background checks could be prohibited from renting the TCC for future events.

The first gun show that will be affected by the new requirement is tentatively scheduled at the TCC in June.

A show already scheduled for mid-March won’t be affected because the rental contract to use the city facility has already been signed.

Pat McMann of Roadrunner Productions, which puts on three gun shows at the TCC a year, said he wants to continue staging shows here and will work with the city.

But until more details about the city plan are known, McMann said he’s not sure he will be able to comply. For instance, he said, what if no licensed dealer will agree to do the checks?

“They may have put on such a restriction that I can’t continue,” McMann said.

McMann said he will also consider legal action to test whether the city requirement violates the state’s firearms regulation pre-emption law.

Firearms rights activist Ken Rineer, who attended the session, also expressed anger over the decision and said several groups to which he belongs will consider suing the city.

But he said gun advocates can’t take the city to court until June, when they try to enforce the requirement.

By then, he said, the issue may be rendered moot by one of two bills pending in the Arizona legislature.

One of those bills would give cities authority to require background checks on all sales at gun shows held on public property. The other would more strictly pre-empt the city from any regulatory authority over guns.

The Feb. 6 action included a unanimous council vote to oppose the pre-emption bill, and a 4-2 vote to lobby in support of giving cities more authority over gun shows.

Republican Fred Ronstadt and Democrat Shirley Scott voted against the background check requirement.

Ronstadt said the requirement amounts to a “de facto” ban on private party gun sales at the TCC.

Scott questioned whether the city is violating state law.

Democratic Councilman Jose Ibarra, who originally put the background check issue on the council agenda a year ago, said he was extremely gratified by the vote.

Republican Mayor Bob Walkup, who cast the deciding vote against requiring background checks on all sales at the TCC a year ago, cast the deciding vote in favor of them this time.

Walkup said he believes in background checks, and has been hoping for a way to require them without forcing private sellers out of the shows and “pushing them into the back alleys.”

He said he believes the new plan will do that.

The mayor said he would have preferred a change in state law authorizing the city to require background checks, but he’s satisfied that the city is on record as supporting that bill.

Walkup said delaying the requirement until June, after the end of the state legislative session, will put the city in a better position to know what its legal standing is.