The Denver Post reports that police responded to an [allegedly] accidental shooting at the annual Tanner Gun Show at the Denver Merchandise Mart. According to Sgt. Candi Baker with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, “Saturday afternoon investigators” were interviewing witnesses, the gun’s vendor and the person holding the gun at the time of the discharge. “They were just looking at a gun,” Baker said. The paper quotes a non-witness named Russ Huntley, who told 9News he’d heard “someone had been shot in the shoulder” and “there was blood all over the floor.” More journalistically, the Post reveals that the show prohibits loaded guns (duh) and this is not the first firearm mishap at Colorado’s largest gun show. “In March 2008 a 64-year-old Littleton man accidentally shot himself in the stomach with .38-caliber handgun in the mart’s parking lot.” Not to mention the fact that “the show drew fire in 1999 [so to speak] when three guns bought there were used by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris in the Columbine High School shooting.” Oh wait; they did mention it. Good for them. I guess.
Needless to say this is all over the news here. We already had a law passed that requires background checks for all gun sales at gun shows, even those between private individuals (a response to the Columbine shootings) and now we can expect security to be tightened up even further.
I've been going to gun shows since 1981 but honestly, I think the gun shows days are passing. Between the internet (gunbroker.com, the ebay of the gun world), big box stores like Bass Pro, Sportsman's Warehouse, Cabela's, et al, and the burgeouning smaller local stores specializing in "black rifles" and accessories, the day when the gun show offered the best opportunity for good deals on obscure stuff is pretty much over.
It's too bad – gun shows were always an interesting cultural phenomenon where gun owners could gather with their own kind in a friendly atmosphere of gun lust. Cowboys, veterans, bikers, wannabe militia types and even the occasional backwards-cap-wearing gangbanger could all associate in peace as they pored over the wares for sale. Libertarian political booths alternate with natural food sellers, homemade jerky and racks of books with every tinfoil hat conspiracy from the Illuminati forward. Military surplus dealers and those with a less-than-wholesome fascination with anything Nazi might be located next to the booth manned by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. It was fun.
But between bogus complaints about "loopholes" and highly publicized negligent discharges like this one, I can feel that rules and regulations are going to squeeze all the fun out of it, if they haven't done so already.
Martin,
You ain't seen nothing yet. Notice that there is not a single black face in this picture. I reckon the gun show is ripe for reinvention, as minorities replace old white guys (clinging to their guns and religion) as the most active gun owners.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: black gun culture is extremely vibrant. Latin machismo and guns are a natural mix. Once LEGAL ownership in these and other minority communities take off, the whole U.S. gun scene will experience tremendous growth and vitality.
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