courtesy corspecops.com

It had to happen. The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s hand was forced when Reed Exhibitions decided, post-Newtown, that “assault rifle” sellers would be persona non grata at another show they manage, the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show. If you’ll remember, that ill-considered move eventually caused a mass exodus of exhibitors and the eventual cancellation of the show. In fact, it was recently announced that the NRA will run that show going forward. Now the NSSF, no doubt after a significant amount of negotiation and possibly a hefty payment, has just announced that after thirty years together, they’ve officially given Reed the heave ho. As an attendee, I can attest that Reed did a first rate job of managing the heavily-attended SHOT carnival. But Reed’s newfound hoplophobia made any ongoing relationship with the NSSF completely untenable. We can only hope that the new exhibition company that’s selected is as competent . . .

The NSSF’s press release:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms industry, today announced that it has reached an agreement with Reed Exhibitions to terminate the agreement the parties had for the management of the SHOT Show®. Accordingly, effective immediately, Reed Exhibitions will no longer be manager and producer of the SHOT Show.

Reed Exhibitions provided excellent service to NSSF and the customers of the SHOT Show for more than three decades, however, the company’s decision to restrict the sale of certain types of firearms this year at its consumer hunting and fishing show — an event unrelated to NSSF and the SHOT Show — was in conflict with NSSF’s mission to serve the shooting sports industry. As a result, both organizations decided it was in the best interest of the SHOT Show to end their relationship.

NSSF is actively engaged in the process of identifying a new show management company to manage and produce the SHOT Show beginning with the 2014 SHOT Show.

The SHOT Show — the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show — is owned and sponsored by NSSF. It is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. The 2014 SHOT Show will be held Jan. 14-17 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Reed did a terrible job of managing the exhibitor wait list at SHOT. My company dropped our membership at NSSF over the mismanagement. I’m glad to see this move for more than the obvious reasons. Hopefully the wait list politics will change as well.

  2. so has the Reed management level idiot who made this decision been fired yet?

  4. I’m very curious what happened to the person or people who cost Reed a contract with a 30-year history.

  5. Maybe NSSF can get Bill Clinton to run the SHOT Show. After all, he’s a well-known exhibitionist.

  6. Way to wizz down your leg there Reed, how much money have to lost so far? Makes me wonder if Reed is a publically traded company and if so, how their stock is doing and if this little matter will come up in the next stockholders meeting.

    • Reed Elsevier, the parent, is a public company with revenues exceeding $9 Billion.

      • Roger that. Lawyers like us know them because they also run one of the largest private news/information/data services anywhere: Lexis/Nexis. They could sell off their exhibition subsidiary tomorrow for $0.00 and it would barely be a blip on their annual report.

  7. Dear NSSF,
    As a recent college grad with a degree in business administration and having event planning experience, i am available to start immediately.

    Your humble servant,
    -C

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