Category Archives: Gun Shows

Forward!

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Today’s post title was Obama’s campaign theme in the last election. We are now in Obama’s second term and what is the headline across the internet? Our GDP—that is our Gross Domestic Product, the sum of all our country produces is down 1/10th of a percent.  It’s the first contraction of our nation’s economy since…the beginning of Obama’s first term. After five years of Obama’s rule…administration, our economy has made no progress and we’re worse off than we were during G. W. Bush’s last year in office.

The democrats believe that shrinkage is a good thing.

In response to the news today that the economy contracted -.1 percent in the final quarter of last year, Democrats are touting the claim that this is “the best-looking contraction in U.S. GDP you’ll ever see.” The claim was originally made by chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics Paul Ashworth.

“The drag from defense spending and inventories is a one-off. The rest of the report is all encouraging,” Ashworth also claimed.

The claim was quickly seized upon by Democrats, looking to share good news about a contracting economy. — The Weekly Standard.

If Ashworth is correct, the downturn was due to a decrease in military spending, what is likely to come when Sequestration fully kicks in? More shrinkage and more job losses.

Job losses?  Yes. Along with this report is another one. The jobless claims went up too. After the usual “readjustment” in a week or two, those figures could reach the 400,000 mark again.

Instead of moving forward, we moving backward and the dems think that’s a good thing. The Luddite wing of their eco-wackos must be ecstatic. Less is More! Let’s retreat to the good old days before nasty technology ruined everything. Of course they conveniently refuse to acknowledge that the nation cannot exist today using 16th Century technology—those years of plague and starvation.

I noticed that in Colorado, some students were forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. Perhaps the target century for the dems is the 7th Century, the days of Mohammad, instead of the 16th.

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The resistance to the Obama/Feinstein gun-grabbing continues. Various states have legislation to block any anti-2nd Amendment actions by the Feds. Wyoming’s law has passed their legislative House. A similar law is Arizona has passed out of committee. Missouri has a similar bill pending in committee as well as bills to allow teachers with a CCW license to carry in school.

The dems retreated to their usual theatrics. Senator Feinstein had a carefully scripted dog and pony show include numerous “evil” military-styled weapons.

Republicans tried to counter these cheap theatrics. As freshman Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas explained, “Emotions in Washington often lead to bad policy,” and the Senate often “operates in a fact-free zone.” Mr. Cruz and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina wanted to bring actual firearms to the hearing to demonstrate the absurdity of the laws currently being proposed.

Unlike Mrs. Feinstein, who had four local and federal law enforcement agencies aid her bringing rifles that are banned in the District to her Senate news conference, the Republicans were not able to do so.

So Mr. Cruz used a photo of a standard wooden hunting rifle and held up a plastic pistol grip to demonstrate how one irrelevant part transformed the item into a scary and creepy “assault weapon” under Mrs. Feinstein’s definition.

Day One in the legislative battle over the nation’s firearms laws ended with proof liberals will say or do anything to gut the Second Amendment. — The Washington Times.

Durbin and others directed their questions to the usual hackneyed subjects. Their pet Baltimore Police Chief said it was “scary” and “creepy” answering calls without knowing what’s behind the door. He ignored the fact that that situation would still exists for every domestic disturbance call they would make. A gun ban would not change that situation.

The real issue for the democrats is they don’t have all their own members, those from Red or Purple states, in line. If Feinstein’s bill every came to the Senate floor, they have no guarantee of getting 50 votes.

Speaking of 2nd Amendment issues, the Eastern Sporting and Outdoor Show, scheduled to open February 2nd, has been postponed. Reed Exhibitions, the British company managing the show has refused to rescind their no “military styled rifle” and hi-cap magazine ban. So many vendors have dropped out, at their great financial cost, that the show will not open as scheduled.

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Another vendor gone…a current example of unintended consequences

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For those of you not of the “gunny” subculture or perhaps only on the periphery of that culture probably aren’t aware of the current controversy over a major, regional gun and sports show, the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, PA. The show averages 200,000 attendees making it one of the largest in the country. The show is managed by the same group, Reed Exhibitions, that managed the famous S.H.O.T. show that just finished in Las Vegas, NV.

It all started with this statement.

A statement on the Eastern Sports And Outdoor Show website says, “As a hunting-focused event, we welcome exhibitors who wish to showcase products and firearms that serve the traditional needs of the sport. Clearly, we strongly support the 2nd Amendment. However, this year we have made the decision not to include certain products that in the current climate may attract negative attention that would distract from the strong focus on hunting and fishing at this family oriented event and possibly disrupt the broader positive experience of our guests.” — FOX43 News

Those “certain products” are AR type rifles, the EBRs, Evil Black Rifles so demagogued by the media, and large capacity magazines. The response by vendors was rapid and unambiguous. The first vendor that I was aware of withdrawing was Cabelas. That vendor was quickly followed by Ruger, Smith & Wesson, the NRA, and others. The list continues to grow.

Many of those vendors who dropped from the show are local to the area. For them, the show is a major marketing event, allowing them to meet more actual and potential customers than any other venue. It is an expensive decision for those small dealers to make. But, make it they did.

Reed Exhibitions decided to cave to pressure from the anti-gun lobby and the liberal agenda to disarm America. They made a tragic, strategic mistake.

The local response should not surprising in the heavily Blue eastern Pennsylvania area. Unionism and democrat politics are the norm but perhaps there is more Red in the populace than the liberal pols and organizations believe. In a sense these continued attacks on guns and the 2nd Amendment strengthens resistance to the FedGov and liberal policies. I just wish it wasn’t necessary. I would not be surprised to see another manager for next years S.H.O.T. show. Gun dealers and the NSSF who sponsor the S.H.O.T. show have long memories.

Just another day under the weight of gangster government.

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Gunny Po’try

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Stolen somewhat shamefully from Tam but it’s too good to pass. (By the way, there’s a Gun Show here in KC this coming weekend!)

Flintlocks and Flop-tops
And Number Three Russians
Black-powder Mausers
From jackbooted Prussians,
Shiny Smith PC’s from limited runs
These are a few of my favorite guns.

Socketed bay’nets
On Zulu War rifles,
Engraved, iv’ried Lugers
That make quite an eyefull
Mosin tomato stakes sold by the ton
These are a few of my favorite guns.

Rusty top-breaks!
Smallbore Schuetzens!
And all of Browning’s spawn
I just keep on browsing my favorite guns
Until all my money’s gone.

Visit the Gun Show, exercise your 2nd Amendment rights, get prepared to protect yourself and your family, have fun at the Range.

The Missouri Valley Collectors Gun Show

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The Missouri Valley Arms Collectors held their semi-annual show this weekend at the KCI Expo, near Kansas City International Airport. This show draws gun collectors from across the country as well as Canada plus a number of industry displays.

I alway try to make these shows. One is always at the beginning of the year and another during the summer. This year the next show will be on June 25-26 if I remember the flyer correctly.

I really didn’t have anything to look for. I left with some once fired brass and some .38Spl blasting ammo that was a very good price. There was one dealer who was selling ammo by the case. I saw at least three pallets of ammo sold—minimum sale was a case. Individual boxes of ammo was available from a 2nd dealer. All the remaining booths were most by collectors.

To quote the collectors, none of their collections or guns were for sale (unspoken was “if you aren’t another collector.”) I saw a lot of rare, quality firearms, and some just plane junk masquerading as a collectible firearm. I saw a pre-WW2 Walter .32auto priced at $1,200. I saw a near identical firearm at Cabelas a couple of weeks ago for $400. I doubt the Cabelas pistol was underpriced.

One of the highest priced rifles that I saw was a Winchester lever-action. It appeared to be a “Yellow-boy” with a price tag $26,500. All the bluing had been worn off and the wood showed the wear you’d expect of a rifle 140 years old. I don’t know what made this rifle so expensive, but a number of near-by collectors were drooling over it.

I saw a large number of 1903 .380 Browning pistols on display. Most showed a lot of wear. One, however, looked near pristine with excellent bluing, two magazines, a belt holster and wooden display box. Price tag: $6,000.

I guess I’m not a collector at heart. There was a S&W collector at the show who was displaying his collection of M29s and other .44 caliber revolvers. I sought his opinion on my S&W M13 that I’d bought in September. I described it and showed him some pictures on my cell phone that I’d taken. He looked at the pictures, looked up the serial number in a notebook he carried and told me he’d pay $2,200 for my pistol if I wanted to sell. I paid $420 for the pistol in September. I declined and told him that it was one of my favorite carry pieces.

He was horrified that I’d carry it and that I fired it.

To each his own, I suppose. As I said, I’m not a collector at heart. That doesn’t mean I don’t have collections, I do. I have almost all of the Astounding/Analog SF Magazines going back to 1947. It wasn’t intentional, I just don’t like to throw away books or magazine. You’ll never know when you might need to refer to a magazine or re-read a book.

From my viewpoint, the show was a great success. I had to park about a 1/4 mile away in a field made lumpy from last Falls cornrows. The isles were packed and people drifted through the show in tidal-current fashion, elbow-to-elbow. The non-collectors were doing a good business. One vendor of EBRs was doing a brisk business. Stripped AR lowers were selling for $210. Complete uppers for $600. Complete rifles were selling in the $1200 neighborhood. It was the first time I’d seen complete ARs selling higher than M1As.

I couldn’t afford to breathe on much of the firearms displayed but for many, selling wasn’t the point. The next regular gun show is coming in a few weeks. I’ll drive the 70+ miles to that one as I did for this show. Gun Shows are a part of our Americana and culture. We must preserve them as we would our other cultural icons—faithfully and tenaciously.