Saturday, there was a record turnout at the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the popular gun show despite all the gun-control controversy.
The debate has obviously done nothing to deter attendance at gun shows across the country, and there has in fact been higher attendance than ever before.
"The heightened attention to gun issues on a national and state level are probably going to be a factor in the turnout of the crowd," Bob Templeton, president of Crossroads of the West, the Utah-based group that has organized the shows told U-T San Diego on Friday. "In some cases, they've doubled, because lawful gun owners are worried about their rights to own and use firearms."
The gun show usually averages around 8,000 people, but on Saturday alone there was at least triple the usual attendance.
"I have been going to the gun show since the late 90's and there were three times more people than I have ever seen before," Mark Dean told the Examiner.
There was a long traffic line to get into the show that was backed up from Carmel Valley Road to the fairground entrance that took about 2 hours to get through.
"We waiting about 2 hours to finally reach the parking lot," said Dean. "Once we got to the building there was another line to get into the show itself that was about an hour long."
There was also another line to purchase ammunition that went out the door and along side the building for about 200 feet. The wait there was approximately 90 minutes.
"I think many people were scared of the possibility of an ammunition or weapon ban and were going and buying massive amounts of ammunition," Dawson Dean told the Examiner.
A new event at the gun show this year was firearm safety. It was held outside the building in a tented area.
"I noticed that there was mostly females waiting to do the firearm safety training," said Dean.
In January, the Del Mar City council passed a resolution urging the fair board to stop the gun show events, but gun show supporters fought back by showing up at the fair board's meeting and sending letters to the panel thanking them for hosting the events. In the end the board said there was no legally compelling reason to prevent the show.
"That's certainly their right to express themselves, but the constitution and state law protects this event and every other gun show in the nation," said Templeton.
The turnout tomorrow is expected to be busy as it was on Saturday.
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