Hysteria like I have never seen before.

Looks just like the Portland Expo Center this weekend where the line was the longest I've ever seen. However, the venue had the capacity and the line moved suprisingly fast. I was in the door and at my first table within a half hour.

I knew what I was looking for and made the purchase right away. That's when the large crowd size began to have its effect. The wait to fill out paper work was an hour, and then another 1 1/2 hour wait for the background check. Some buyers hung around the vedor's table waiting and that made the congestion even worse. I used my time to browse the rest of the show and really enjoyed this one more than less crowded shows in the past.

If all these buyers and potential voters would write their elected officials, this battle could be over before it starts. I was discouraged by all the talk I heard of bans being foregone conclusions. As if we are powerless to stop it.

All these long lines, panic buying, huge crowds, and shortages is actually very illuminating. It's all been very civilized. No fights or riots, no one getting trampled to death, etc.
If it was Walmart opening 10 minutes late on Black Friday or if they were getting ready to ban everyone's favorite video game or consumer electronic, there would be fights, riots and people getting trampled to death.
Just an observation.

AlexanderA said:

It was worse than that at the show in Chantilly, Virginia, last weekend.

I wish politicians would realize that people are voting with their feet, and wallets.

For gun owners, talk of bans cuts to the bone. The anti-gunners are mostly unthinking and naive do-gooders, who would not be directly affected. Hence, the "enthusiasm gap" between the two sides.

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Yeah -- a bud and I got to Chantilly at 2:30 p.m. on Friday for a scheduled 3 p.m. opening, and there was a line formed from the doors all the way out to Willard Road. I would guesstimate 2,000 people in that line. We wound around the parking lot looking for a space, and saw a LONGER line formed going around the opposite side of the building.

We gave up looking for parking and went to a Hooter's to try and wait out the initial rush. The Hooter's people were shooing away anyone trying to use their parking without actually going into their establishment. We paid rent at one of their tables for a few hours with several pitchers of beer, and went back to the expo center. The line had "died down" to about half its earlier length.

The prices at the show were unreal...


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I've noticed reloading dies are showing out of stock now on many sites.

I was at this gunshow in Lexington. We got there right at opening and stood in line probably 80 yards behind where this picture was taken. We got in after about a 25 minute wait though. It was still lined up like this when we left.

You didn't miss much by not going in, I cringed when I watched a guy hand over $1655 for a base model doublestar.

There was also another line on the inside coming from the other side of the building just as long. They were running two windows side by side selling the tickets. One window for one line, one for the other.

It's all been very civilized

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Yes, that is excactly the feeling I had. Everyone was very courteous and positive. Even the harried vendors were patient and polite. Of course, they had reason to be, this is probably going to be the best year they've had since they got into the business.

Yes, that is excactly the feeling I had. Everyone was very courteous and positive. Even the harried vendors were patient and polite. Of course, they had reason to be, this is probably going to be the best year they've had since they got into the business.

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To that point, a LGS (small operation, the owner is the only employee) has averaged over $30K per day at 2 shows he's done and his shop has done over $1Million (yes, that's MILLION) in sales over the last 2 weeks.

Of course he's smart, he has over 500 "modern hunting rifles" sitting in a warehouse and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition to sell as well. He saw this coming and began stocking up over the last 6 months, buying whatever stock he could from distributors over that time period.

Another LGS sold all 650 AR and AK style guns he had in stock in one day after the president's speech.

It's INSANE!

No ammunition capacity greater than five rounds (give the poor deer a chance)

- No hollow-tip or +P ammunition (hollow-tips are banned by the Geneva Convention)

- No steel core ammunition (can penetrate Law Enforcement vests)

- No bi-metallic jacketed bullets (can start forest fires)

- No lead bullets (too harmful to the environment)

- No bayonet lugs

- No handgun capable of muzzle energy greater than 250 ft-lbs

- No rifle capable of muzzle energy greater than 750 ft-lbs

- No handgun with a barrel shorter than 5 inches

- No plastic or “polymer” framed firearms

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These are some truly assinine "restrictions." No "rifle capable of muzzle energy greater than 750 ft-lbs?" What does that leave -- .22RF and a sling shot? 250ft. lbs. for handguns? This guys a whackadoodle. No hollowpoints....I guess he's OK if bullets go through and through and hit an innocent person in a defense situation.
What's the problem with polymer guns?
Oh, NEWSFLASH: they DO show up at airport security X-rays.
Hollow tips are NOT banned by the Geneva Convention, it was one of the Hague Commisions, IIRC, and I don't think any of those ever spoke to +P ammo at all.

Hyper demand for all things firearms is a good sign. Folks who stand in the cold for hours for the chance to pay current market prices for something they didn't think they'd ever want will not support a legislator who tries to take that thing away and will very likely write that legislator to tell him so.

TJx said:

All these long lines, panic buying, huge crowds, and shortages is actually very illuminating. It's all been very civilized. No fights or riots, no one getting trampled to death, etc.
If it was Walmart opening 10 minutes late on Black Friday or if they were getting ready to ban everyone's favorite video game or consumer electronic, there would be fights, riots and people getting trampled to death.
Just an observation.

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And a good observation, at that. Robert Heinlein was correct.

Lex Luthier said:

This is absurd. If there ever was a time to sit back and watch the circus, it is now. The more people act this way, the more we make the media's argument for them.

Also, who in their right mind would waste that much time in a day? If you were smart, you would have seen this coming and you get to stay home and surf the web, drink your favorite beverage and chuckle. I would bet a Benji most of those guys were tire kickers just whiling their day away. Stupid.

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Your choice to sit back and watch. I don't disagree with you. But lets not begrudge those with the desire and stamina to go and do it. Thats their choice. Not everything can be convienient all the time.

I, for one am glad to see this happening, people are finally waking the hell up, and it is sending a message to washington in the meantime.

No automatic or semi-automatic weapons (i.e. only manually operated actions allowed – e.g. bolt, pump or lever action)

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So? The nuts will just bring two 8 round Smith or Taurus .357's (w/ a couple of extra speed loaders each) into a crowded place and accomplish the same horrible thing.

Or a couple of 15 round .45 lever guns.

No problem...we'll ban those, too.

I had an opportunity to visit with a couple of new gun buyers at a local Academy last week while returning some Christmas presents. I asked them why they didn't buy their guns before the election, and both said they didn't think about buying guns before all the talk of "banning guns" as they put it. They wanted a handgun for home protection, didn't own any other guns, and didn't plan on buying another one in the future.

My guess is there are a lot of new gun owners out there simply because the government may decide that they can't buy one in the future. You know, someone telling them they can't do something just makes it all the more appealing.

Most of us here have been through this before, and hopefully everyone has bought enough ammo and mags to be able to sit back and see what happens.

jJim NE said:

So? The nuts will just bring two 8 round Smith or Taurus .357's (w/ a couple of extra speed loaders each) into a crowded place and accomplish the same horrible thing.

Or a couple of 15 round .45 lever guns.

No problem...we'll ban those, too.

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Well yeah, that is their ultimate goal.

Any of the Fudds or "hunters" who think they're gonna stop at Assault Rifles and semi-autos and hi-cap mags is damn fool who is kidding themself.


This is just round one.


If they are successful they will move on to the next class of firearms until they have banned any and all firearms in private hands. That includes hunting rifles, shotguns even if they are just for duckies and bunnies, and great grandpa's old six-shooter.

They hate all guns equally but know that they can only get rid of them incrimentally.

This is absurd. If there ever was a time to sit back and watch the circus, it is now. The more people act this way, the more we make the media's argument for them.

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Ya, I'm sure the politicians are thinking the same about their constituents.

The Anti gunners dont realize what this would do to american manufacturing jobs either! Imagine puting 70% of a skilled labor force out of work, thats good economics right?

Diane, Nancy, Barack, Harry, Joe, Hillery............"The Freak Show".......this is who's gonna tell us how we and our families are to live ?

The madness has spread to Austin Texas as well. mike martinez of the ruling class has declared "we must ban the Autin monthly gun show!" He is even talking about a ban on private property of any gun show.
It is about time though. After attending these shows for the last 20 yrs.I have seen literally thousands of people shot and killed by insane gun owners. Most of the killers were white males over 65 who had the nerve to stand around drinking coffee and chatting with fellow seasoned citizens right there amongst the dreaded guns! The violence has been incredible I tell you. I have actually overheard talk about times past when hunting rifles were carried to school parking lots during deer season and nobody even noticed them in the back windows of pick-up trucks! Now we can feel safe with armed politicians telling us what to do, not do, and how many squares of toilet paper to use at one sitting. Do not ever forget that the national socialists have gotten out of hand before..........unless you believe that never happened.

By the way -- I have to add that for the Chantilly, VA, gun show, there was a huge turnout of anti-gun Code Pink protesters. There had to be as many as 8 of them -- one could barely get past the crush of antis to get to the show...


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hrmmm....all those people, i wonder if even 1/10 of them have written their senators/ reps.


they should have a deal, set up 10-20 computers at the door.....if you email your reps, you get in to the show for $1

Given that in the past 4 years congress has only passed 3% of the bills that made it through committee onto the floor of congress I will take my chances they won't pass any gun laws anytime soon. The budget is a pressing matter and the economy is pressing just as hard. How will killing one of the bright spots in our economy help anything?

Deer_Freak said:

Given that in the past 4 years congress has only passed 3% of the bills that made it through committee onto the floor of congress I will take my chances they won't pass any gun laws anytime soon. The budget is a pressing matter and the economy is pressing just as hard. How will killing one of the bright spots in our economy help anything?

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Another dark horse in this equation is that Obama does not seem averse to writing out Executive Orders, regardless of unconstitutionality.


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Weevil said:

They hate all guns equally but know that they can only get rid of them incrimentally.

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If they hated guns their bodyguards would carry pitchforks.

They hate us having equality, or potential equality.