Gun show not happening at Schenectady Armory Center

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Patrons peruse firearms an NEACA gun show at the Saratoga Springs City Center on March 19, 2016.

SCHENECTADY — A New Eastcoast Arms Collectors Association gun show will not happen at the Schenectady Armory Center, according to facility co-owner Ray Legere.

The decision Friday comes three days after Dave Petronis, president of the NEACA and organizer of the show, sent an email invite for a gun show at the Armory Center for Sept. 29 and 30.

Petronis did not return a request for comment.

Legere, in a prepared statement, praised the association for being “very successful in attracting vendors and thousands of sportsmen and collectors to their shows,” but added that the Armory Center will not be hosting them.

“The Schenectady Armory Center’s goal is to bring trade shows and other events to Schenectady but has determined the timing for a show of this nature is not right for the community,” Legere wrote. “And therefore, the show will not be held at the facility.”

Legere did not return requests for further comment.

Mayor Gary McCarthy, who said on Thursday he didn’t think the gun show would be happening, did not return a request for comment.

Legere previously said facility staff had been in talks over the past two years with Petronis about hosting a gun show at the Armory Center, but nothing was ever finalized.

Petronis claimed the reason he sent out the email invite was because he had a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Tom Petricca, general manager at Legere Restorations, to bring the gun show to the Armory Center on those dates. He believed that all he needed to do was sign a contract and send a deposit.

Petronis also said Legere had “no clue” about his conversations with Petricca.

In the email invite, NEACA said the show would feature 250 tables, each 8 feet long, for vendors to show off their merchandise — the same layout as other shows the association has hosted in the Capital Region.

NEACA’s announcement about the gun show being held at the Armory Center came almost two months after it hosted its final gun show at the Saratoga Springs City Center, in May.

The association had been hosting the show at the City Center for more than three decades, before the Saratoga Springs City Council voted to ban the sale of guns and ammunition at the City Center.

The City Council move came after a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Petronis said he has wanted to host a gun show in Schenectady for some time. He said he had previously hosted shows in the city that were “very well attended.”

Legere said in an interview Thursday that any event he hosts at the Armory Center will be done with the community in mind.

“Obviously, I’ve been a supporter of all good things in Schenectady,” Legere said. “Of course I’m going to take the community’s feelings into consideration.”