Killing The Greensboro Gun Show

 After at least thirty years at the Greensboro Coliseum, the Greensboro Gun Show is no more. The story has surfaced in the last couple of weeks due to a lawsuit against the city filed by Eric Robert, a mayoral candidate. 

In 2018, the Greensboro City Council wanted to ban the gun show after the publicity surrounding the Parkland High shootings in Florida. There is absolutely no evidence tying the Greensboro Gun Show to the Parkland shootings. There is no evidence linking the Greensboro Gun Show to the explosion in black-on-black violence in Greensboro. But a City Council that likes to brag that it has "no white males", didn't need a reason. They just chanted the leftist mantra, "We have to do something." The City Attorney at the time told them that they could not legally block the Gun Show. So, they hit the pause button.

 In what has to be the biggest case of "karma" in Greensboro history, the City Council public hearing in 2018 launched the political career of political novice Mark Robinson. Robinson is now the Lt, Governor of North Carolina. Nancy Vaughan is still pissed off about that. Vaughan also claims that she has a concealed carry permit and is not "anti-gun". She is not against her owning a gun, she just opposes the "common people" owning guns.

In 2020 with COVID closing down the Coliseum for almost everything but COVID shots and testing, Coliseum director Matt Brown went to work to solve his City Council's problem with the Gun Show. He worked out a deal with the Gun Show's owner to sell the Gun Show to the city for $400,000 to be paid in 5 annual installments of $80,000 each. Since a new City Attorney had issued his opinion that the city could ban the Gun Show, the road was clear for the City Council to act. But they didn't?

The City Attorney claims that gun shows on city property violate state law. There are several other cities in North Carolina where gun shows are held on government property. Obviously, someone is wrong. By the way, the state of North Carolina allows gun shows at the NC State Fairgrounds.

Oddly enough, there was no public announcement about the city buying the Gun Show. The Gun Show remained on the calendar for 2021 at the Coliseum. Why? There was a municipal election scheduled for 2021 featuring a mayoral election. Then this election was postponed until 2022 due to claims about the census and new districts. Now in 2022, more than 18 months after Matt Brown worked out his deal, the news has finally broken due to the lawsuit by Mr. Robert. The question that begs asking is "Why didn't the Coliseum or the City Council make a public announcement about this?" This is not an accident. By the way, Mr. Robert has asked for copies of e-mails between Matt Brown and Mayor Vaughan and has not received anything from the city. 

The city assures us that no taxpayer money was involved in this transaction. They say that it came from an "Enterprise Fund" that Matt Brown controls. They claim that this money is profits from the Coliseum and not taxpayer money.

Let me make this clear, like the city water department and the parking garages and other municipal enterprises, every dime that the Coliseum takes in IS taxpayer money. There should be controls over every dollar of city income. The Coliseum is no exception. If the Coliseum does not realize enough revenue in a year to cover costs, the city makes up the difference. The citizens of Greensboro paid to build the Coliseum, renovate it, and to expand it. If the Coliseum makes an actual profit, the money belongs to the city.

Matt Brown said that the Coliseum had bought two other businesses years ago.  They bought the Central Carolina Fair and the Super Flea. The Fair is still around but I think the Super Flea is no longer around. As far as I am concerned, this is like getting caught doing something wrong and offering a defense claiming that you had done it twice before. I don't care how many times you have done it, it's still wrong. The city should not be in the business of buying businesses.

Based on statements made by Mayor Vaughan and associates, Matt Brown may be the most powerful man in Greensboro government. Does anyone in authority ever evaluate his performance? Does he report to anyone? Is there an oversight authority on the Coliseum? Is the City Council afraid to do that? Based on statements by local leaders, they should consider changing the city name to "Brownsboro". Or at least make the Coliseum a self-governing district with that name. Wait! Apparently, it is already a self-governing district.

Reports are that the Greensboro Gun Show promoter made about $11,000 a show. There were two shows a year. So, he was making about $22,000 a year. Matt Brown bought his business for an amount that is roughly eighteen (18) times his annual earnings. Then Matt closed that business.  If Matt went to business school, he needs to apply for a refund on tuition. Just out of curiosity, let's see the numbers on what Matt paid for the Fair and the Super Flea. I am going to guess that they didn't get eighteen (18) times earnings.

Matt Brown paid the Greensboro Gun Show $400,000 because he wasn't just buying the Greensboro Gun Show, he was buying silence. In the purchase agreement, the owner agreed that he would not tell any vendor or customer that either of the 2021 Gun Shows was being canceled more than thirty days ahead of the show. 

Mayor Nancy Vaughan, City Attorney Watts, and Brown should all be removed from office. They all conspired to hide this from the public. They paid the Greensboro Gun Show owner $400,000 because they knew that they would probably lose in court if they just shut it down. 

Brown, Vaughan, and Watts couldn't keep the lid on their scam until the election. The primary is next week, and they are all lying through their teeth for damage control.

Today's story is that the profits from some new youth sports events will cover the $400,000. What will cover the revenue lost from the Gun Show? How much did the city take in from the Gun Show for rent, admissions, parking, and concessions? What are these youth sports events?  It's time for the city to share some actual numbers. Let's bring in an outside accounting firm and review the Coliseum books. 

Memo to Greensboro's "no white males" leadership: If you were doing the right thing, you would not be hiding it.