Carry at gun shows.

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... I’m curious also as to what others do. Do you disarm to attend or do you conceal and carry anyway?
The Gun Shows around here always proscribed Carry. When I was still attending Gun Shows (I stopped for reasons not connected to No-Carry) I would adhere to their rules. <shrug>

Quite frankly, when at Gun Shows, rather than Bad Guys, I was always more worried about some careless, unthinking chucklehead hurting me with a Negligent Discharge.
 
No one on this thread has advocated that guns brought into the show for sale, trade, display, or fondling NOT be safety checked. It's getting frustrating to read the same "free for all" juvenile insinuation over and over again.

However, no one has convincingly demonstrated why Sportsman's Warehouse's policy of keeping concealed guns concealed is OK there, but down the road it's moronic because "it's a gun show". The same moron who does something stupid at one will do it at another.

And no, just because I chose to walk into your "private property" (chuckle) does NOT mean I choose to abide by every policy requirement your legal team decides to cook-up. This is especially true when my actions will have zero impact on the operations occuring on that same "private property". The t-shirt analogy is accurate, even if some don't want it to be.

I think some of you have never been to a show held in an "interesting" part of town. How many people here attended an event at the Merchandise Mart at I-25 & 58th Ave in Denver Metro? I did for almost 30 years. The concept of being unarmed will traversing around the multiple parking lots was not really viable once legal CCW became a thing. That's where I witnessed the slammed Civic "interviewing" a recent attendee on his way back to the car. Show security was nowhere to be seen. If the show actually had a "load/unload" station with appropriate safety precautions, then we might have a different discussion.
 
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It may ruffle some feathers here, but publicly accessible private property, like the mall or a gun show at a venue, is a completely different beast than the private property of your home or behind the fence at Lockheed-Martin.

The distinction you're making is inherently flawed; a mall is essentially 'private property operated as a quasi-public place.' There are no membership requirements or admission charged.

The proper analogy to a gun show would be something like the movie theater at the mall, where you have to pay to enter. It's been pretty clear for years in most jurisdictions that a 'private property' can control what happens on their property. Your unwillingness to abide by their rules doesn't negate them, it only makes you a bad customer, or in some cases a criminal.

And if you can't see a functional difference between Sportsman's Warehouse and a gun show....I'm not sure I can help with that one. They seem extremely different to me.

Larry
 
The distinction you're making is inherently flawed; a mall is essentially 'private property operated as a quasi-public place.' There are no membership requirements or admission charged.

The proper analogy to a gun show would be something like the movie theater at the mall, where you have to pay to enter. It's been pretty clear for years in most jurisdictions that a 'private property' can control what happens on their property. Your unwillingness to abide by their rules doesn't negate them, it only makes you a bad customer, or in some cases a criminal.

And if you can't see a functional difference between Sportsman's Warehouse and a gun show....I'm not sure I can help with that one. They seem extremely different to me.

Larry

Like I said- "feathers ruffled". ;)

Highly amusing that I was an armed "bad customer" while purchasing an $1800 flat screen TV from a mall based vendor with a "no weapons" clause in their "code of conduct", right above "no bare feet" and "no outside food". Oops, I had some tic-tacs in my pocket at the same time too.

Do their policies guarantee an assumption of liability for the my compete safety and security while on their property? Ask the patrons of the Aurora Century Theater about that one...
 
I could carry a gun concealed well enough not to get caught, and be legal in ignoring the no carry policy in my state.

How can you "be legal in ignoring the no carry policy in my state"? If you are aware of them and decide to ignore them, how does that make your choice legal?

They can trespass you but no other legal issue I believe.

Trespassing is still against the law and a crime. Still a legal issue. Doesn't make it not so just because you don't get caught. Entering someone's property with a gun, when they legally post against it, is no different than entering their property without permission to hunt. Most folks here are quite adamant towards trespassers on their hunting land.....yet some of those same folks feel it's alright to trespass with a concealed weapon. You know....their "right". If you want folks to respect your right to CWC, you need to respect their right to not have you do it on their property, when they ask. Pretty simple. Don't like it, don't go there. All this bravado about "concealed is concealed" is just B.S. to somehow justify a criminal behavior. Not the image I want to portray as a responsible gun owner. Not anyway to endear us to others, both fellow gun owners and those not so gun friendly. It doesn't impress anyone but the chest thumper themselves.
 
Trespassing is still against the law and a crime. Still a legal issue. Doesn't make it not so just because you don't get caught. Entering someone's property with a gun, when they legally post against it, is no different than entering their property without permission to hunt. Most folks here are quite adamant towards trespassers on their hunting land.....yet some of those same folks feel it's alright to trespass with a concealed weapon. You know....their "right". If you want folks to respect your right to CWC, you need to respect their right to not have you do it on their property, when they ask. Pretty simple. Don't like it, don't go there. All this bravado about "concealed is concealed" is just B.S. to somehow justify a criminal behavior. Not the image I want to portray as a responsible gun owner. Not anyway to endear us to others, both fellow gun owners and those not so gun friendly. It doesn't impress anyone but the chest thumper themselves.

Once again, ask the patrons at the Aurora Century Theater about the effectiveness of a "no weapons" policy and how it guaranteed their safety.
 
Yes we want to take away all guns and forms of carry and usher in the new world order...... you busted us.

Gun shows are places of commerce and items must be examined and they only way to do this is to establish a standard that all weapons entering the show are unloaded and safe. If this was anything else I would agree with your comments but it's not.

The more loaded guns going back and forth in the hands of sellers and buyers means a greater chance of a negligent discharge.

If you can't accept this answer then let's leave it at that and be friends on the internet.
Yeah, we can be friendly on the internet, but I don’t go to gun shows anymore. In the most part I agree with 455 hunter and Bazoo. I just go to gun retailer places of business to make my purchases. At least I feel good with the experience. For you, have a nice day, may talk with you again, but it won’t be at a gun show.
 
If gun shows actually had a property equipped "load/unload" station for carry guns before entering the show, and not just a "No Loaded Weapons Sign", they might get better compliance from people like me, who's concern about security is not INSiDE, but the area OUTSIDE. Malls, theaters and other low to zero density armed security areas are not in the same boat.
 
The big reasons to go to gun shows died about 10-20 years ago. But, people like paying entrance fees $10 or more to go to gun shows, boat shows, home shows for the “privilege” of listening to somebody yammering on about how great their product is.

I suppose giving up the right to carry can be considered part of the entry fee to “enjoy” a walk around. No thanks, never understood the appeal of the various shows.

Now a days, if you aren’t shopping from the comfort of your home and you object to a $25 FFL transfer paid to a guy you know, like and trust, I don’t know what else to say.
 
Once again, ask the patrons at the Aurora Century Theater about the effectiveness of a "no weapons" policy and how it guaranteed their safety.

Funny, that scenario is also used by those opposed to high capacity magazines. The shooter used a S&W M&P 15 with a 100 round drum and fired 65 shots into the crowd. Only because the magazine jammed did he not fire all 100 rounds. Opponents of concealed carry also use that shooting as an example, stating that having multiple persons with little or no training firing blindly at a shooter thru the smoke and teargas he used, would have contributed to several deaths also. IOWs, while having CWCs on patrons may have stopped the gunman sooner, it may also have contributed to more casualties. Two sides to every coin.

That said, I'm not making an argument for or against anything, other than we as responsible gun owners need to respect the rights and legal wishes of others. As I said before in the post you quoted, don't like their wishes, don't go there. Don't break the law to prove to yourself, you are macho. If and when you do, don't brag about it on a public forum and suggest to others they do the same. While you may get a few "hip, hip hoorays!" on a gun forum, to the majority of the folks in the world, you just make responsible gun owners look like criminals.
 
Funny, that scenario is also used by those opposed to high capacity magazines. The shooter used a S&W M&P 15 with a 100 round drum and fired 65 shots into the crowd. Only because the magazine jammed did he not fire all 100 rounds. Opponents of concealed carry also use that shooting as an example, stating that having multiple persons with little or no training firing blindly at a shooter thru the smoke and teargas he used, would have contributed to several deaths also. IOWs, while having CWCs on patrons may have stopped the gunman sooner, it may also have contributed to more casualties. Two sides to every coin.

That said, I'm not making an argument for or against anything, other than we as responsible gun owners need to respect the rights and legal wishes of others. As I said before in the post you quoted, don't like their wishes, don't go there. Don't break the law to prove to yourself, you are macho. If and when you do, don't brag about it on a public forum and suggest to others they do the same. While you may get a few "hip, hip hoorays!" on a gun forum, to the majority of the folks in the world, you just make responsible gun owners look like criminals.

Unless codified, violating a venue's "policy" is not breaking the law. Actions after that might be if you choose to press the issue. This is a very important distinction.

Back to the Aurora Theater event- Did the no guns policy help to keep people safe? I am not talking about about magazines or the potential of people shooting back, just the attack itself.

Have you been to the Aurora Mall Century Theater? I have, and it's a sobering place, and a monument to the fallacy of people entrusting their personal safety and security to an off-site corporate legal and management team.
 
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Back to the Aurora Theater event- Did the no guns policy help to keep people safe? I am not talking about about magazines or the potential of people shooting back, just the attack itself.

That's a question that none of us are able to answer, similar to asking if the "no guns" policy endangered the patrons. According to the shooter, he did not choose the movie theater because he was concerned about armed resistance. Instead, he wrote that he chose the specific theater because it was “isolated, proximate, large” — qualities three other theaters in his immediate vicinity lacked. The fact that he wore tactical clothing, including bullet resistant(especially to CWC weapons), tells me that he considered the possibility of someone shooting back. It seems to me that the shooter also had staked out the theater and knew that the emergency exit to the parking lot, did not have an alarm on it, had no other surveillance and could easily be propped open. This allowed him to go out to his car, obtain three weapons, tear gas and change into protective clothing and re-enter the building unobserved.

Again, I am not making an argument for or against no-gun policies. Only that if we wish to have our rights respected, we need to respect the rights of others.
 
That's a question that none of us are able to answer, similar to asking if the "no guns" policy endangered the patrons. According to the shooter, he did not choose the movie theater because he was concerned about armed resistance. Instead, he wrote that he chose the specific theater because it was “isolated, proximate, large” — qualities three other theaters in his immediate vicinity lacked. The fact that he wore tactical clothing, including bullet resistant(especially to CWC weapons), tells me that he considered the possibility of someone shooting back. It seems to me that the shooter also had staked out the theater and knew that the emergency exit to the parking lot, did not have an alarm on it, had no other surveillance and could easily be propped open. This allowed him to go out to his car, obtain three weapons, tear gas and change into protective clothing and re-enter the building unobserved.

Again, I am not making an argument for or against no-gun policies. Only that if we wish to have our rights respected, we need to respect the rights of others.

The corporate wide Century policy (at the time) of prohibiting weapons in their theaters failed to ensure the safety of the patrons. Why Holmes selected that theater is beside the point. The fact is that he did, and management chose to not provide adequate security- no armed guards or off-duty LE present, even thought the midnight premier was a high-profile event in a rough area (lots of gang activity). They might not have foreseen a spree killer, but definitely should have foreseen needing armed security on-site and not just entrusting "policy" to be effective. And for the record, Holmes wore a tactical looking vest, with no armoring properties.

Like I stated, my trust in legal and management teams to ensure my safety via venue policies is low. Compliance may unacceptably increase my risk profile in other areas, such as parking lots, even if the venue itself is appropriately secured.

Anyway, it's been fun! Off to be more productive.

Carry-on and make your own decisions about your personal safety policies.
 
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Theaters are different to gun shows imo but thats me. I understand why some might not want to go unarmed in places but at the same time. Is the hassle of being caught carrying where it's banned worth it?
 
When I started this thread it was to gain info about gun shows carry policies. As I said, I’d only been to one. I didn’t mean to open a can of worms.

I can see how a dealer might ask about your gun and that result in handling of a loaded gun that otherwise would have stayed holstered.
 
I remember going to gun shows in the time before Concealed Carry was legal (yeah, being old is a thing).

And that included going to places as sketchy as George R Brown Convention Center (right at the edge of the Houston's Fifth Ward). Texas Law allowed "carry" while traveling, but, at the time most "big city" prosecutors said that "traveling" ended when you reached your destination. It was a thorny proposition.

Now, it was all too common for gun show venues to prohibit ammo sales due to previous on-premise ND (yes, imagine a gun show with no ammo for sale).

And, the issue of unloaded, no ammo, zip-tied remains in Texas today. And with plenty of irate types having to put their ammo into a dump bucket at the entry check table, too.

Life is complicated. And it's all too easy to slip into the logical fallacy of arguing from the Specific to the General. What is true of Jerry Miculek (or Jena) is not true for all shooters, neither of all people.

But, yes, in my lifetime, to OP's question, no CC at gunshows. Even some at VFW halls out in the stix.
 
I've been going to gun shows in the Virginia - Maryland area for more than 50 years. Security has never been an issue. Unsafe gun handling has. I'm more than OK with rules saying that guns have to be unloaded.
 
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