I've been going to gun shows in the Baton Rouge area for many years and have seen the good and the bad. We can gripe about the candle and jerky vendors but the fact is they are obviously selling enough product at the shows to justify the expense of buying multiple table at an average price of $70 each.
It's easy to to find the negatives like this but we can also look at our local gun shows and try to find the positives to. If we aren't seeing positives then we can try to make them.
Here's what I mean. I rarely go to gun shows to buy guns. I will go sometimes looking for parts or accessories. I will also go to look over items that I may be considering buying in the future to try them out. If I can't find what I'm looking for, well there's always the internet or local gun shops.
Another asspect that I've seen alot of locally is not so much selling guns or parts but advertising services. At a recent show in Gonzales, La I saw table displays by at least 3 different CHP instructors who were handing out cards, fliers and other promotional items advertising their classes. Some were offering discounts ($20 off) if you signed up for an upcoming class at the show.
Another set of tables were bought by the owners of Bayou Shooter dot com, the largest Louisiana shooting related internet discussion forum, to publicise their website and tell people about their forum.
I've seen progun politicians campaigning for office with tables at area gun shows.
Pro gun organizations like La Shooting Association, which is a state level NRA affiliated group with a full time lobbiest in Baton Rouge, will often have tables at the gun shows as well as other groups.
I am a member and officer for La Open Carry Awareness League and we are working on putting a table at a gun show in Baton Rouge or New Orleans next year to tell people about our organization, point them to our website and forum and inform them about the right to Open Carry firearms in Louisiana.
Gun shows don't have to be strictly about selling guns and ammo. They can also be places where progun groups, instructors and those interested in learning more about firearms sports can all meet under one roof to shake hands, discuss issues and come away with answers to questions. It's a means of networking.
If your gun shows have become stale and uninteresting then you can abandon them. Or you can look at them as a chance to promote your gun related group.
Do you have a shooting or hunting club that is loking to add members? Get a table at the next show and shake some hands. That's what I'm trying to say here.
Look, the owners of the shows really don't care, for the most part, who sets up shop at the shows as long as they can sell all of the tables for the $70 a piece asking price. If you don't buy a table and the guy selling dream catchers and scented candles does, then that's what you are going to see at your local gun show.
Personally, I'd rather see a bunch of CHP instructors, guys advertising their gun forum, a couple of progun guys running for congress, a few NRA type groups and maybe the guys who put on the area USPSA/IDPA matches there than the jerky guy.
Gun shows are what you and I make them.
Steve
La Open Carry Awareness League
www.laopencarry.org