Having been a vendor at gun shows for the past few years, I’ve formed a few opinions about this very American phenomenon.
Foremost among these observations is that Gun Shows are, for the most part, particularly friendly events. As diverse as the group of sellers and buyers are, they all have one thing in common, and that common interest alone breeds a certain level of comfort. I often think of the old adage “An armed society is a polite society.” I don’t think the attendees are polite simply because they are held in check by the threat of force. I do think being surrounded by people who have also considered using force, as you have, can be sobering and comforting at the same time.
Gun Shows attract a very diverse group. I have long held that gun rights is the most bi-partisan issue in politics. The issue runs less on political ideologies, and more on regional ideologies. Citizens from all types and regions have representatives from both sides of the aisle. I don’t know if they still do, but Congress used to have a Congressional shooting event every year... and it has a better safety record than their baseball practice.
It may be anecdotal, but lately we have noted an increase in the number of women coming to gun shows. Sure, they come with husbands and boyfriends, but they are certainly engaged in the process and the products. They are there for themselves. Women often come without men. Women sometimes appear to have convinced her husband or boyfriend to come because THEY want to go to the show. Women work the tables, too, negotiating and selling. By the way, I don’t know many of them personally, but women at a gun show just come across as confident. Even those buying a gun for the first time, or carrying when they didn’t before, seem to know who they are and what they’re doing.
I suspect many of the objections to gun shows, by those opposed to firearm ownership, stem less from a fear of rampant violence, and more to do with like-minded people who disagree with them gathering in large numbers. The “gun-show loophole” has been demonstrated, repeatedly as being minimal to non-existent. Probably more so than the public marketplace. The vast majority of vendors and attendees conduct their business and affairs as they should: legally and ethically. Criminals don't generally attend gun shows. Legal guns are too expensive and they don’t use holsters or other accessories. Gun shows don’t make sense for most criminals.
If you haven’t been to a gun show in awhile, make a trip out sometime. If you have never been to a gun show … go, it’s quite an experience. I suspect you’ll enjoy yourself.
(William Wallace here will be waiting to greet you!)
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