NRA was part of the team that tried to reason with Reed Exhibitors over their ban on modern sporting rifles at the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. They didn’t make any call to officially pull out until tonight. Now, they have. NRA had multiple large booths set up for the general organization, Friends of NRA, and their hunting services program. Apparently, whatever conversation broke down yesterday broke down spectacularly.
Month: January 2013
Hundreds of Anti-Gun Activists?
According to news reports, CeaseFire PA is pledging to have 250 anti-gun activists in Harrisburg tomorrow to demand more gun control. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to make it to verify their numbers & oppose their messages to lawmakers in person, but I’d love it if anyone who does go to check out the circus would shoot some photos over to us to see how it compares to the press promises.
If any Pennsylvania gun owners haven’t contacted their state lawmakers yet with a general message to oppose new gun control, might I suggest tonight or tomorrow morning as an absolutely fantastic time to email, call, or fax your state representative and senator?
Was the Gun Ban Hidden from ESOS Vendors?
I’ve pondered privately if the decision to ban modern semi-automatic firearms from the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show was actually made prior to any key deadlines for vendors to pull out of their contracts with minimal loss of deposits. I don’t know the key contract dates since I’m not a vendor, but we do seem to have some level of confirmation that Reed Exhibition did not disclose their decision to vendors in a timely manner.
Reed’s statement on the ban – which appears to have been news to many of the exhibitors – appeared on January 15. That’s 8 days ago. Rumor started to leak publicly around January 11. That’s only 12 days ago. According to a member of the NSSF Board of Governors, they knew about the looming ban for nearly a month and tried to get Reed to change its position.
As a member of the Board of Governors of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, I have been working, in good faith, with Reed to find a compromise to allow the show to continue at the caliber to which my fellow exhibitors, manufacturers and the more than 200,000 attendees have come to expect. After nearly a month of discussions, which concluded yesterday, I believe a compromise will not be reached.
I also made a comment to Sebastian earlier today that something must have come to a head today or yesterday. To suddenly have Smith & Wesson and Ruger announce they won’t support the show, along with The Outdoor Channel suddenly no longer being listed as an event sponsor, and big groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation dropping out, it was all quite a bit for one day. The statement from The Sportman’s Shop confirms that something big happened yesterday that was enough to send most of the industry fleeing without looking back.
Several people have said that the real impact to Reed’s bottom line may not be this year. Instead, it will likely be next year. Here’s what one vendor has to say about the economic bind he’s in with the show:
Provided Reed doesn’t change its stance, something Olien said the company told him it does not intend to do, Olien will decided by the weekend if it’s worth risking the trip.
One things is for sure.
Even if he comes this year, there will be no second trip for MN next winter.
He predicts a lot of vendors will be making a similar decision.
“I can’t afford to be associated with a show that’s so wishy-washy,” Olien said. “It’s been a wonderful show in the past, but they really flubbed it up. This show will always have a stigma as being that show.”
Reed has successfully made the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show a dirty brand name. For exhibitors, they have created the perception that they are unreliable and will not treat you fairly. For attendees, they are still promising celebrities and vendors they cannot deliver. At this point, the local media hitting Reed’s target audience for attendance is reporting that attendees can expect about 15% of booths to be empty. There’s still another week and a half for more vendors to pull out, so that could increase – along with the number of headlines about how much smaller the show will be. If people pay their $14/head to get in and find out that many of the stalls are empty, they will not be pleased and will not return for future shows.
Reed may have told NSSF that all legal firearms will be allowed next year, but it’s pretty clear that all vendors will not return, nor will all attendees.
Ruger & S&W Pull Support from Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show
This isn’t quite a Cabela’s level exit from the East Coast’s (previously) largest sportmen’s show since Cabela’s was an actual sponsor instead of just an exhibitor, but it is very close because of the major profile of the company.
Ruger addresses the concern that so many smaller vendors have about pulling out of this show. It’s not that they don’t support the Second Amendment, it’s that the can often see the difference between profit and loss for the entire year based on the sales at this single show.
One such company is GUTNTAG, a Pennsylvania company that I found mentioned in one of the many headline stories about regional exhibitors pulling out. Their statement says that they are really true believers in the Second Amendment even though they sell cooking seasonings:
We have made the costly decision to withdraw because it is the right thing to do. We are a young company that relies on this one venue to create our operating capital for the year; however we cannot support uninformed businesses caving to political pressures caused by broadly politicized events. We proudly support the 2nd Amendment in the capacity for which it was intended; the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. Our freedom to do so was not for hunting or competition shooting, but protection for law abiding citizens.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.†Friends, if we continue to give in inch-by-inch, we will find ourselves with no protection and a tyrannical government.
With such a strong statement, we decided that we’ll show them some support and buy their seasonings.
I think some of the most interesting reactions have been from folks who are still baffled by NSSF’s request for consumers to continue to support the gun banning exhibition company. This is the take from celebrity hunter Lee Lakosky:
“I don’t know why the NSSF would promote this ban just to please one vendor out of twelve hundred,†he said. “Anyone who believes this isn’t a big deal is wrong. It is a big deal because this is where it starts. There’s a reason for the Second Amendment and we all need to band together and stand behind it.â€
Jim Shepherd from The Outdoor Wire had this to say about the statement this morning:
Saying the “hunting and shooting sports community needs to be unified in the face of political challenges” while encouraging attendance at an event which has banned the nation’s most popular and best-selling rifle seems contradictory.
People on Twitter also shared my sentiments when I posted that my first reaction was “WTF?” Granted, The Outdoor Wire adds more to the context in terms of how NSSF may have been limited in how strongly they could condemn Reed Exhibitions, but I don’t think anyone would have complained if they simply cut the last two paragraphs from their statement – the two where they actively encouraged people to give Reed money, even as they ban modern semi-automatic rifles.
TOW notes that as big as many attendees believe that SHOT is for Reed (they manage it on behalf of NSSF), it’s a drop in the bucket compared to their other shows. Hell, even in this industry, the 60,000 people who attend SHOT don’t compare to the estimated 200,000 who attend the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. And, unlike SHOT, Reed is directly making $14/head for every single one of those attendees, plus the exhibitor fees of many thousands of dollars.
At this point, ESOS is starting to recognize the backlash. They finally removed Cabela’s from their list of sponsors, and they have slowed their advertising promising certain celebrity speakers who has since publicly cancelled. I even saw one newspaper report that said the ESOS spokeswoman was starting to speak again – though she’s not really saying anything more than the original statement and confirming that they do have exhibitors backing out.
For those who still want to let the ESOS know how they feel about the subject – and let them know if they have lost your business as an attendee – here is a repeat listing of the contact information that they pulled down from the ESOS site right as the controversy erupted:
Group Vice President – Ed Several
Phone: 203-840-5932 Fax: 203-840-9932 Email: eseveral@reedexpo.com
Event Director – Chris O’Hara
Phone: 717-368-7487 Fax: 203-840-9868 Email: cohara@reedexpo.com
Public Relations – Deb Davis
Phone: 717-834-6267 Fax: 717-834-6207 Email: ddavis@conceptoneinc.com
Marketing – Cathy Kitlasz
Phone: 203-840-5871 Fax: 203-840-9781 Email: ckitlasz@reedexpo.com
I contacted Ms. Davis on behalf of the blog, but she has refused to respond. Of course, we’re not alone. Many media outlets have reported that they are trying to contact her and other Reed spokesmen, but they all refuse to return any calls or emails.
UPDATE: And now minutes after I hit publish, Smith & Wesson announces that they are pulling out of the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. Wow.
Guns in Schools
Glenn Reynolds talks about the topic, and the idea that when we had more guns in schools, we had less school shootings. I think the extinction of high school shooting teams has been one of the greatest cultural losses we’ve suffered. Glenn notes:
Reader Gary Robinson emails: “We worry about kids and sex – so we have sex education in school. We educate kids about driver safety, drugs, healthy lifestyles and a host of other things that we have concerns about so kids learn safe practices. If we’re worried about kids and guns, why don’t we teach basic gun safety in schools?â€
I would say that the effort by gun-controllers to “denormalize†gun ownership, and to portray it as deviant and dangerous, actually increases the allure of guns to unbalanced minds.
I agree with that. I think long term, we have to get shooting teams back in high schools. It would have been something I absolutely would have taken to as a kid, if it had been available at my school. I was not involved in sports as a kid, but rather was a band geek. I still would have done band, but if a shooting team had been available, I would have done that. It gets kids away from the video games, and gives them something to do that requires a degree of self-discipline to master.
Assault Legislation Appears in Connecticut
I suppose we all knew this was coming. I do believe these people mean to destroy shooting in their Northeastern enclaves. They don’t want to associated with icky gun owners and their icky guns. As I mentioned, this is cultural, and doesn’t have anything to do about reducing violence.
BTW, Part II of that link above will come soon. It’s still kind of stewing, and with having to go to the dentist this morning, it’s not going to be today. But soon. Good news is I don’t have to see the dentist for another six months. I just saw him a month or so ago, as I have nearly every month since my last six month checkup. But all caught up now.
Semi-Auto Ban in Vermont Withdrawn
It looks like the sweeping ban was introduced by the incoming Senate Majority Leader in Vermont, but he came to realize that it would absolutely divide the Democratic caucus for him to push gun control. He said this:
After much thought, I’ve decided to withdraw S32, a proposed ban on assault weapons. It was a difficult decision, and one I fear will disappoint those who have written expressing their support. …
But it is painfully clear to me now that little support exists in the Vermont Statehouse for this sort of bill. It’s equally clear that focusing the debate on the banning of a certain class of weapons may already be overshadowing measures with greater consensus, like tightening background checks, stopping the exchange of guns for drugs, and closing gun show loopholes. Finally, as incoming Majority Leader, I owe it to my caucus to remove an issue that seems increasingly likely to complicate our shared agenda this biennium.
Clearly, his statement still leaves quite a bit of room for him to push for added sales restrictions and extreme regulation for anything he defines as a gun show, but he’s learning that gun owners will speak up.
Joe Biden, Pathological Liar?
As the Senator from next door, I’ve had the displeasure of a long familiarity with Joe Biden. Stories like this, where Biden claims to have had a brush with the Nickel Mines massacre in Pennsylvania are nothing new to anyone familiar with his career. I’ve concluded that Biden may, in fact, be a pathological liar. He’s certainly a world class weirdo, at the least, and certainly makes you hope the Secret Service has their A game on.
You’ll Have to Pardon My Slow Posting Today…
Sebastian is busy at work, so I’m supposed to cover the relevant news for the blog. However, I might take a little longer than usual. See, I had to drop my car off for state inspection and some recall work this morning. While I waited on Sebastian to pick me up, I had to suffer through listening to what networks call “morning news.”
Is anyone shocked why this country is full of idiots? I’m pretty sure I lost more brain cells just being in the same room as that television than I have will all of my years of drinking combined. I actually witnessed the first 26 seconds of this Fargo clip in the waiting room when a woman pulled out her knitting project and had that mindless grin/stare at the “antics” of the morning news crew as they debated how tough it was to get through their month-long challenge of not chugging down alcoholic drinks on set while they worked.
To give you an idea of just how intolerable it was to hear such mindlessness, I found it better to go wait on Sebastian outside. I should add that the temperature was 18 degrees with a windchill of 6. I had no hat or gloves, just a leather jacket. It was preferable to witnessing the horror of watching people staring at the tv with glee and wonder. At least I had a little faith that maybe the people on their cell phones were looking at something more stimulating.
The time spent in that waiting room makes me more appreciative of the time I spend engaged in civic groups. Whether it’s phone banking for a campaign, planning for the next Friends of NRA event, or even engaging in serious discussions on here, today gave me a new appreciation for just how few people are even interested in understanding the world around them in a serious way.
Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show Bans PA Sportsmen’s Club Fundraiser
The ban on modern semi-automatic rifles at the Eastern Sports & Outdoors Show doesn’t just apply to the display and sale of the actual firearms and related accessories. According to the early report from Firearms Industry Consulting Group, the new rule also says that vendors may not feature “brochures or documentation that mention or picture any ‘black rifle’ or high capacity magazine.”
This means that the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs cannot sell tickets to their raffle for a Bushmaster XM-15E2S A3. They have posted the order form online for anyone who wants to mail in a form with payment. So, if you’re interested in a chance of winning a rifle for $10 (or 6 chances for $50) with a only 500 tickets sold, take a look.
UPDATE: PFSC provides confirmation that even their raffle ticket is banned at the ESOS under the current rules:
PFSC had planned to sell raffle tickets for a chance to win the hottest-selling firearm on the market today. It comes fully-accessorized! Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to mention, display or provide a picture of it at the show.
They also include in the announcement that they will no longer have an active presence at the show because of the ban on modern semi-automatic rifles.