Guns, guns and way more than gunsFor more than a decade, I've wanted to attend the SHOT Show.As the biggest gun nut that I know — and I know plenty of them — it seemed the natural fit: Guy who loves guns more than any other inanimate object gets to visit place with wall-to-wall guns, where you can fondle a Heckler-Koch MP7 or Glock 35 and not get stares from anyone. I'd be in my element.It would be, I've thought all these years, a mind-blowing experience, one where I could live to be 100 and remember in great detail the endless array of black rifles or specialty ammo displayed.I was half right.Not only was it a mind-blowing, happy-for-hours experience, but it was also one that I'll want to relive over and over, year after year.And I was not alone. Everyone I talked to, from old industry salts to first-timers like myself, the show is something to behold."There's nothing like it," says Remington's Linda Powell.With some 16 acres of handguns, rifles, shotguns, knives, scopes, apparel, footwear and anything else related to shooting, hunting and the outdoors, the first thing that hits you about the show is that you cannot possibly see everything you want to see in just four days. Or even seven days for that matter.Everywhere I turned, there was a common refrain flowing from someone's lips: "Even if you had a week to do nothing but walk the aisles, without talking to anyone, you still could not see the entire show."How right they are.During my first day on the show floor, I spent 5 1/2 hours walking around, chatting a little, asking a few questions, saying hi to old friends and making new ones. I'm being generous when I say that I likely saw 1/1000th of the exhibits.The scale says a lot about the overall health of the industry, especially the shooting end of things. Despite all the hoopla over hunter numbers being down, and discounting the supposed run on black rifles and high capacity handguns in anticipation of the Obama administration enacting stricter gun control policies, sales of black rifles have been the envy of the industry for a while now."Manufacturers cannot make those guns fast enough," says Ron Giudice, a principal with Blue Heron Communications, which represents Smith & Wesson.But maybe more than the size and scope of the show, the overall vibe is one I'd love to see other trade shows emulate.People are happy to talk up their products, willing to share in rich detail their introduction to shooting or hunting or provide images and a vivid story of their most recent hunt.You don't leave a booth feeling like the guy or gal just wanted to sell you something so much as you do that the person you just spent 20 minutes talking to is as passionate about shooting, hunting and the outdoors as you are. That feeling is the most exciting part of the show and the main reason I'll be back every day until they pull me out of here — likely kicking and screaming.
Good, I'm glad that Olbermann (D) does not speak for everyone at that network.
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