The show started a 9. When I got there at 9:30, there was 1 parking spot open (out of probably 500)… because someone had just finished their run and was leaving. By the time I got in (9:40 or so), Georgia Arms was already out of .380 ACP, 9mm was running low, and the selection of .38 Special and .45 ACP was getting sparse. I walked out the door the first time with two of the last 500 round cans they had. Not had at the table, but had at that location, period.
The situation with .380 is ridiculous. I know millions of pocket autos are being sold… but sweet child o’ mine, where is the ammo going? As it stands, I’ve given up calling a store to see if they have .380 in stock– because it won’t be there when I get to the store. Georgia Ammo brought two cases (from what I saw). That’s 40 packs of 50… and they sold in 40 minutes or less. Even the .223 wasn’t moving that fast.
I’ve been really involved in the gun world since ’08. I bought my first pistol the Friday after Barry ascended to the throne was elected… and I’ve never seen a gun show like this. They ran 4 concealed carry classes at the show (2 each Saturday and Sunday) with 50 seats in each class. By the time I carried my ammo to the car and came back to browse (9:50 or so), both Saturday classes were full, and the first Sunday class had a few seats left. This is also the first show I’ve seen where more than one or two people brought older/unwanted guns to sell– I saw at least a dozen private sellers, not to mention the dealer’s booth that had been set up to buy guns. (shakes head)
The political side was covered, too. The Tea Party was in attendance, as well as a woman running for agricultural commissioner (if she gets it, she’ll be the one signing the CCW permits), two candidates for Sheriff, and two guys running for state Congress. Not to mention the guy standing outside the entrance handing out voter registration forms.
The NRA booth was busy, too. Yeah, I know, the NRA isn’t all that great… but they are the 800 pound gorilla… and while we have them, that’s who the left will target. (chuckle) The one touching scene was the immigrant couple (Eastern European, sounded like either Czech or Romanian to me) who enrolled in the NRA. How many American citizens hate guns? And yet a couple so new to the country that they were still skittish (and working on their English) knew the value of being armed.
