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  1. #1
    Senior Member HAPPY2BME's Avatar
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    60,000 Expected To Attend Vegas Gun Show

    60,000 Expected To Attend Vegas Gun Show

    January 15, 2013
    lasvegas.cbslocal.com

    LAS VEGAS (AP) — A weapons industry group based in the Connecticut town where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults last month is opening a Las Vegas Strip trade show Tuesday that’s expected to draw tens of thousands of manufacturers and enthusiasts.

    The National Shooting Sports Foundation was focusing its 35th annual SHOT Show on products and services new to what it calls a $4.1 billion industry, with a nod to a raging national debate over assault weapons.

    The group said it has issued credentials to nearly 60,000 industry professionals, recreational gun owners and law enforcers to attend.

    “Hunting and the recreational shooting sports are here to stay. And so are we,” Steve Sanetti, the foundation president and chief executive, said in a show-opening statement. “A prerequisite to any dialogue involving our industry and its products is an honest recognition of the legitimacy of what we do and the important part of the national culture which we represent.”

    The Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show at the sprawling Sands Expo Convention Center is closed to the public, and the organizer limited media attendance after the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn.

    Foundation spokesman Bill Brassard Jr. told The Associated Press on Monday the organization stopped accepting media applications when it was swamped by requests following the Newtown shooting. At the time, the foundation issued a statement saying family, friends and acquaintances were affected by what it called a terrible tragedy.

    In Las Vegas, gun rights enthusiast and activist Eric McGovern, a volunteer area director for the Nevada Firearms Coalition, said his work schedule prevents him from attending the SHOT Show, which runs through Friday.

    But McGovern said he was closely watching the gun rights debate framed by President Barack Obama, who has called for gun controls to curb mass shootings like the Newtown massacre, and National Rifle Association chief executive Wayne LaPierre, who has said, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

    New York’s Senate on Monday passed the toughest gun control law in the nation calling for a tougher assault weapons ban, restrictions on ammunition and the sale of guns and mandatory police registration of assault weapons. The measure was expected to pass in the Assembly on Tuesday.

    In Baltimore, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg argued during a gun violence conference at Johns Hopkins University for greater federal gun control, including background checks for all purchases and a federal crackdown on trafficking. Bloomberg co-chairs Mayors Against Illegal Guns, whose members also spoke out Monday in cities including Portland, Maine; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Santa Fe, N.M.

    McGovern, 37, of Las Vegas, owns a military-style semiautomatic rifle similar to the one authorities say was used in Newtown, and two registered handguns. He has a concealed carry permit.

    “Here’s the problem we’re having right now,” he said. “We’re all very emotional. We need our elected officials to sit back and think calmly. They’re talking about massive laws at the federal level.”

    Obama on Monday was considering a range of possible executive actions including ordering stricter action against people who lie on gun sale background checks, striking limits on federal research into gun use, ordering tougher penalties against gun trafficking and giving schools flexibility to use grant money to improve safety.

    The president told reporters that he also supports legislation to ban assault weapons, limit the capacity of ammunition magazines and institute universal background checks. He is expected to unveil his proposals as early as Wednesday.

    The National Shooting Sports Foundation said it was part of a firearms violence task force meeting headed by Vice President Joe Biden last week, along with the NRA.

    Sanetti, the foundation chief, is due late Tuesday to talk in Las Vegas about the state of the weapons industry before 2,000 guests who are also scheduled to be entertained by Las Vegas comedian, impressionist and singer Terry Fator.

    “Ours is a responsible industry that manufactures and sells lawful products to law-abiding citizens, who in turn exercise their constitutional right to own, use and enjoy firearms safely and responsibly for lawful purposes,” Sanetti said in his statement.

    60,000 Expected To Attend Vegas Gun Show « CBS Las Vegas
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  2. #2
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    Defiance, discretion at Vegas gun show

    Justin Berton
    Tuesday, January 15, 2013
    sfgate.com



    Las Vegas --

    A month after the elementary school massacre that threatens to change the American gun industry, a group based where that atrocity took place mixed defiance with discretion Tuesday in opening the doors to the world's largest gun show.

    More than 60,000 gun dealers, retailers and apparel makers are in Las Vegas this week for the annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show, hosted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation of Newtown, Conn.

    The four-day "SHOT Show" is not for the public - it's for those who sell to the public. With the killings of 20 schoolchildren and seven adults in Newtown prompting the Obama administration to move quickly on proposing changes in federal gun laws, the attitude in Las Vegas this week is a combination of aggressiveness, attention to image and adaptation to a new environment.

    "You didn't cause the monstrous crime in Newtown and neither did we," Steve Sanetti, president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told members in opening-night remarks.

    A new product

    On the floor of the Sands Expo and Convention Center, browsers gripped sleek new AR-15 rifles, such as the latest version of the Bushmaster Predator, which has an automatic option and can fire 30 rounds in a few seconds. Retailers showed off new inventions, including the iPhone case that doubles as a stun gun, a woman's bra that can holster a handgun - and a product from a Florida company designed to protect schoolchildren from a killer with a gun.

    Unlike in past years, the SHOT Show isn't going out of its way to attract attention. Foundation officials declined interview requests from non-trade outlets and denied credentials to mainstream media a month before the trade show opened. A spokesman said a large media presence would be a distraction for people trying to do business at the show.

    Gun control proponents interpreted the silence as an attempt to limit coverage of the convention, where assault weapons are on display and the latest military-style weaponry is geared up to amaze potential clients.

    Not 'puffed up' now

    Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, said industry executives were "puffed up" last year and happy to be interviewed on the convention floor after they reported record sales and estimated the value of the sporting gun industry at $4.1 billion.

    "This industry is circling the wagons now," Sugarmann said. "The last thing the industry wants America to see and to think about right now is that these are the very guns the industry is promoting. Most people today would be shocked by what the gun industry has become - primarily marketing military-style weapons because that's the profit center."

    Sanetti, the SHOT Show organizer, was among industry leaders who met Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading an administration group that will recommend changes in federal gun laws.

    On Monday, Sanetti issued a statement saying, "A prerequisite to any dialogue involving our industry and its products is an honest recognition of the legitimacy of what we do and the important part of the national culture we represent. Hunting and the recreational shooting sports are here to stay. And so are we."

    The national debate dominated the concerns of conventioneers on the first day of the SHOT Show.

    Gregg Thompson, co-owner of Crye Precision of Brooklyn, N.Y., which makes camouflage-pattern apparel including vests and helmets, said foot traffic appeared to be light.

    "We are not in a good environment for what we do," said Thompson, whose sales team wore T-shirts that took a dig at the Obama administration: "Freedom Was Awesome 1776-2008."

    Thompson added, "We should be looking for the solutions that give us more freedoms, not take them away."

    Bad rap for rifle

    For others, the trade show was an opportunity to network and try to put a new face on the gun industry.

    Chris Cheng, a San Francisco resident and winner of the History Channel's reality marksman competition, "Top Shot," said he hoped to show that competitive shooters come from diverse backgrounds.


    Cheng, an Asian American who left a job at Google to pursue his career as a marksman, uses the AR-15 as his primary rifle. It's the same gun that was used by Newtown killer Adam Lanza, which AR-15 fans say has given it a bad rap.


    "Not only do thousands of other competitive shooters use the AR-15, but it is also the most popular modern sporting rifle in America," Cheng said. "That's an important piece of information to understand why talk of an 'assault weapons' ban is resonating with many gun owners."


    Cheng was mindful of presenting a positive picture of gun owners. He answered questions through e-mail after his responses were vetted by his History Channel sponsors, and he declined to be photographed next to a poster of hunting rifles at the show.
    School market

    With the gun control debate focusing on the elementary school killings, Mike Hengstebeck was earning a lot of attention at his booth with a new item for schoolteachers called the LAD - Lockdown and Defend.


    The $795 device resembles a fire extinguisher when it's not in use. If a teacher hears gunshots, Hengstebeck said, he or she can unfurl a bullet-resistant 2-by-4-foot sheet from LAD. The device also has two doorstops, which can be used to try to bar a gunman from breaking into the classroom.

    Hengstebeck said the teacher can also hang the canvas over the window to protect the class or use it as a shield while students huddle behind it.


    He said his company, SRT Supply of St. Petersburg, Fla., had just completed the product days before the show started and had already won the attention of local lawmakers.


    "Unfortunately, a lot of times the people who get killed in school shootings are in the hallway," Hengstebeck said. "They hear the shots and they go running. With LAD, we're telling them to lock it down and defend themselves to give them a chance."
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