Gun shows, in general

[Doctor_M]

The MD antique arms show is still the bomb.

 

[MattFinals718]

As much as I hate to see the death of private sales, I'm having a lot of trouble mourning the death of gun shows. I haven't been to one since 2016 (the Nation's Gun Show in Chantilly); even then, it was mostly just to window shop. I've seen so many dealers at gun shows who try to rip people off that I've come to see them as a magnet for sleazy used car salesman types. I also don't think that this is a new development, either - even in the late-1990s/early-2000s (when I first started going to gun shows), I saw my share of scammers.

 

[beetles]

Instead of being locally sponsored and relatively infrequent, they seem to be commercial road shows on a regular circuit around the country, renting a venue, advertising locally, charging admission and renting booth space to vendors, on the same model as trade shows. Filling up booth space is their business model.

They are competing with local shops, national sporting goods chains, online sellers of modern firearms, online auction houses and dealers of rare and collectible firearms. The pull was a local show and a chance to see things not sold locally and to bargain for a deal. The online sellers have hollowed out much of that, and show sellers have access to the national online market from wherever they live.

I think it is a dying selling model that doesn't have much time left.

 

[RoadDawg]

As gun shows disappear… so does the flow of new blood into the community. Mourning the loss of the good old days… while at the same time boasting of how long it’s been since supporting any shows, tells us why the shows are in decline. If you haven’t been to one in years, how would you know what is there?

I go to several gun shows every year. I work them in a completely volunteer capacity. I’ve seen things go down hill for several years. And I’ve seen things coming back. I’ve also seen a renewed interest by new buyers who are looking to learn what most here already know. They are bringing their new found excitement and their money. They are our 2A of tomorrow. Helping them learn benefits all of us.

So… we can sit in our sackcloth and ashes as we sing lamentations for what was. Or, we can help to bring it back.

Come out and support MSI and many other folks, like our own MDS IPs, who are working their asses off to preserve what we can.

Post after post of “…it’s all gone and ain’t never coming back.” does nothing to help. It simply discourages others and new blood from even trying. May as well just climb into the box and pull the grass in on top of the 2A.

Articles which tell us how our community tradition is dying and how we should simply accept it as our fate… are the favorite reading of the anti 2A community. They get off on reading our epitaph. Please stop helping them to put us away.

 

[FFBWMD]

Well said RD!

 

[calicojack]

Well said RD!

I don't go to shows as much as I used to, but when I go, you never know what I might see and decide to buy, big or small.

 

[ground chuck]

I don't go to shows as much as I used to, but when I go, you never know what I might see and decide to buy, big or small.

I haven't been to Oaks or dulles in years. I can only check out so many cheap knives and purses.

 

[Sirex]

I used to love going to the gun shows, however with Silverado closing up and not doing shows anymore, and the economy, just not good for me now. I liked going with my dad, but between his bad eyes and arthritis, he doesn't shoot much anymore, and my son isn't into guns like me. I have most of what I need already, and last time I went the gun show was mostly knives and beef jerky, with a few shotguns and expensive ammo.

 

[TheOriginalMexicanBob]

After reading this and comparing MD gun shows to what I've experienced here in AZ there is a world of differences. Gun shows are alive and well here...MD is just a sad example of what government restrictions and social pressures can do such harm.

I attended the Phoenix Gun Show last month at the state fairgrounds. To paint a picture...think of the Chantilly gun show and triple it of not quadruple that in size and attendance. The main building was larger than the Chantilly venue...plus three more building nearly as large plus two huge canopy tents full of vendors plus vendors with individual tents.

I saw more guns for sale at this show than I thought must even exist in MD. It was beyond comprehension...and it's not supposed to be the largest gun show in the nation. I saw people pulling carts around full of gun to sell or trade. The laws here are different...face-to-face is legal...no going through a FFL holder required though a bill of sale is encouraged but not required. With a sale at a FFL holder fill out the 4473, get the approval and walk out.

Yes...gun shows are alive and well...but it depends on the location and local culture. MD is a repressive state...AZ is not...though many Californians, Oregonians and Washingtonians have moved here to escape the damage they voted for and some are trying to California Arizona which is meeting a lot of resistance. What the future holds for that I don't know...it's a matter of numbers and who gets elected to office. But...that's beside the point and a different issue.

I saw MD gun shows going downhill for a long time...I hope for those who live there things improve in the future.

 

[Docster]

As gun shows disappear… so does the flow of new blood into the community. Mourning the loss of the good old days… while at the same time boasting of how long it’s been since supporting any shows, tells us why the shows are in decline. If you haven’t been to one in years, how would you know what is there?

I go to several gun shows every year. I work them in a completely volunteer capacity. I’ve seen things go down hill for several years. And I’ve seen things coming back. I’ve also seen a renewed interest by new buyers who are looking to learn what most here already know. They are bringing their new found excitement and their money. They are our 2A of tomorrow. Helping them learn benefits all of us.

So… we can sit in our sackcloth and ashes as we sing lamentations for what was. Or, we can help to bring it back.

Come out and support MSI and many other folks, like our own MDS IPs, who are working their asses off to preserve what we can.

Post after post of “…it’s all gone and ain’t never coming back.” does nothing to help. It simply discourages others and new blood from even trying. May as well just climb into the box and pull the grass in on top of the 2A.

Articles which tell us how our community tradition is dying and how we should simply accept it as our fate… are the favorite reading of the anti 2A community. They get off on reading our epitaph. Please stop helping them to put us away.

You can keep up the guilt trips for those not regularly going to gun shows forever but that doesn't change the facts of what's being said. Gun shows used to be fun, good deals, variety and gun related merchandise to find. However even the top shows in the area have significantly declined. I stopped going to local shows for several years but when I returned the shows had only gotten worse. I still go to my favorite, York, occasionally but that may change. The only "improvement" is less pickle/jerky/fudge/Chinese crap perhaps but nothing else.

 

[RoadDawg]

You can keep up the guilt trips for those not regularly going to gun shows forever but that doesn't change the facts of what's being said. Gun shows used to be fun, good deals, variety and gun related merchandise to find. However even the top shows in the area have significantly declined. I stopped going to local shows for several years but when I returned the shows had only gotten worse. I still go to my favorite, York, occasionally but that may change. The only "improvement" is less pickle/jerky/fudge/Chinese crap perhaps but nothing else.

I booked no guilt trip. I’m not your travel agent.

If one has not been to a gun show in years… what would/could they know about gun shows now?

I work them… I do know.

Folks can book their own trips by virtue of their own actions.

 

[Art3]

Well said RD!

Counting my wife and father, my family has bought about a dozen or so firearms from you...and all but one have been at gun shows. Nothing against your store at all (except maybe that it isn't closer to me ), but that's just how things have played out. I hope this continues

What has kept me less invested in gun shows over the past year has nothing to do with lack of interest or fear of being disappointed...it's the financial limitations of having bought a fixer-upper house, and trying to fix it up at build-back-better material costs . Were it not for that kinda major life change, I'd still be going to one somewhere probably every other weekend.

As to the article in the OP that I skimmed (and feel like might as well have come from repeated posts on here), nothing is or can ever be as good as it was when we were kids...not even Star Wars.

 

[rseymorejr]

I try to go to gun shows just to look around and see what's there. I like looking for old and odd guns, things you don't see every day. I
have zero interest in going to a gun show and seeing 2000 Glocks and 3000 ARs. I much rather see old Winchester rifles, Krags, Savage 99s, etc. I actually enjoy the smaller shows like the one at Baltimore County Game and Fish and Southern Lancaster Farmers and Sportsmans assoc.

 

[protegeV]

The gun shows in TX be bumpin. Never fear.

 

[Hotrod Willy]

I try to go to gun shows just to look around and see what's there. I like looking for old and odd guns, things you don't see every day. I
have zero interest in going to a gun show and seeing 2000 Glocks and 3000 ARs. I much rather see old Winchester rifles, Krags, Savage 99s, etc. I actually enjoy the smaller shows like the one at Baltimore County Game and Fish and Southern Lancaster Farmers and Sportsmans assoc.

Yes me too..

 

[mawkie]

-I think about this subject frequently as I've been in the gun collecting field for a long period and have seen it change along with the times. IMHO there are 3 things driving the downsizing of gunshows...
1.) The collapse of the military surplus market. You can blame this on both the UN and their small arms non-proliferation treaties and a naturally dwindling supply of older arms that don't run afoul of recent gun control laws. There's damned little out there for retail. Most military surplus sales are in the secondary market now.
2.) Definitely in the case of MD a hostile business environment. Talk to any gunshow promoter and they'll have a tale of woe about restrictions, both in what, where and how it can be sold. Nobody from out of state will want to set up a table in MD with all the restrictions on the most popular and profitable arms. When I was younger it wasn't unusual to see dealers from as far away as NY with tables here in MD. Forces promoters to take in non-2A vendors just to keep the show going.
3.) The internet. In the heyday of shows the internet didn't exist and your best bet when it came to reaching out beyond your back yard was Shotgun News. The 'net changed everything, for better and worse. As someone routinely searching for unobtanium, having long since collected the more common items, the 'net is a boon. I rarely attend shows beyond the MACA event because the odds of me finding that rare Swedish Luger is nil. And for brick and mortar dealers it can work for or against you. The more successful gunshops list their inventory online and are comfortable selling the more rare stuff on GB and other online sites. But it does mean that they're competing with online only dealers who just don't have the overhead of a traditional shop.
-There is another thing going on with younger collectors that I've noticed in their generation. They're far less comfortable with face-to-face transactions as they've grown up with text communications. Seeing as how gunshows are very social in nature I would bet there's some of that reluctance to meet with strangers in person going on. I see it daily in my workplace. I grew up as a very shy young man but I look like the life of the party compared to many younger adults that I have to interact with. Very much the fault of modern communications as far as I'm concerned. Just wait until the eventual breakthrough in neural networks then everything goes to hell in a hand-basket.

 

[joppaj]

-There is another thing going on with younger collectors that I've noticed in their generation. They're far less comfortable with face-to-face transactions as they've grown up with text communications. Seeing as how gunshows are very social in nature I would bet there's some of that reluctance to meet with strangers in person going on. I see it daily in my workplace. I grew up as a very shy young man but I look like the life of the party compared to many younger adults that I have to interact with. Very much the fault of modern communications as far as I'm concerned. Just wait until the eventual breakthrough in neural networks then everything goes to hell in a hand-basket.

I'm 45 and overall pretty affable. I found this element of gun shows to be challenging. All the other issues aside (and I think you covered it nicely), I'm not there to swap stories with dealers nor talk about politics/ current events/ guns. I came to look and buy. The last show I went to I found an Enfield Jungle Carbine that I was really interested in. When I asked if I could see it, the dealer handed it to me with a big smile and then became immediately upset when my first glance was at the price tag. He wanted a lot of money for that gun and I handed it back to him immediately, thanking him but telling him it was out of my price range. The dealer was ANGRY. What did I think was fair? Wasn't I going to make him an offer? Who's dumb enough to think that the tag price is set in stone? This fat old bastard was livid that I had violated the unwritten code of haggling that is apparently sacred in his world. I listened to his screed for a minute, thanked him for his time, wished him good luck and left. What he yelled to me about being a "dumbass f*cking kid" was less polite.

 

[pre64hunter]

The Bel Air Show is gonna be a little different this year. A few of the vendors that are at all the shows chose to go to Chantily, the Dulles Show on the same weekend.
There's going to be less of the same dealers you see at all the shows.
The good news is there's going to be more local guys there with some new/different/fresh stuff. Better news is some of them are MDS members.
More good news is the admission fee has changed to $5.00 !!!
Student under 16 free!
Law Enforcement and Military Free!
Also, there are a few tables still available until 1/20/23, see the contact information under the Bel Air Gun Show post if you want to sell some of your stuff and join the fun.

 

[mawkie]

I'm 45 and overall pretty affable. I found this element of gun shows to be challenging. All the other issues aside (and I think you covered it nicely), I'm not there to swap stories with dealers nor talk about politics/ current events/ guns. I came to look and buy. The last show I went to I found an Enfield Jungle Carbine that I was really interested in. When I asked if I could see it, the dealer handed it to me with a big smile and then became immediately upset when my first glance was at the price tag. He wanted a lot of money for that gun and I handed it back to him immediately, thanking him but telling him it was out of my price range. The dealer was ANGRY. What did I think was fair? Wasn't I going to make him an offer? Who's dumb enough to think that the tag price is set in stone? This fat old bastard was livid that I had violated the unwritten code of haggling that is apparently sacred in his world. I listened to his screed for a minute, thanked him for his time, wished him good luck and left. What he yelled to me about being a "dumbass f*cking kid" was less polite.

So sorry you had such a rough run-in. At 64 yrs old I'm no different. The first thing I look at is the asking price, no use wasting my time if it's well beyond my budget and "haggle range". All too often prices are set arbitrarily high and they discourage buyers. There used to be a dealer who always set up at York and Gettysburg, right near the entrance to the main hall. He had a glass case of nice, rare pistols and had 'em marked at museum grade prices. Don't think he ever sold anything over a decade's worth of shows. Makes you wonder just why he spent the time and money getting a table.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Gun Shows are like Sex .

Even mediocre Gun Show is much better than no Gun Shows