There are now two reports out that the first day of SHOT seemed to be much slower than years past. Interesting.
I’ll be curious to know what today is like. Did folks just want to shave a day off of travel to save a few bucks? Or, are they doing such brisk business at home that they are trying to minimize time away? Or, is it because all the distributors and companies are so backordered with current products that they just don’t see much of a need to go play with the new?
There are so many possibilities. If you know someone in the industry who isn’t going to SHOT this year, or has shortened their time at the event, what is their reason for cutting attendance this year?
I’d add a third concurring opinion to those reports, actually. It seems like there’s a lot less really trick gizmos this year. Everything is either an AR, or for an AR, which is cool and all, but it leads to a very single minded show. So far the coolest thing I’ve seen is SigSauer’s new single action .380.
A number of people I spoke with were only attending two or three days. I didn’t pry, but I’ll take an unscientific poll tomorrow (i.e. – ask random people waiting for the shuttle bus.)
I’m actually most curious in longterm trends. One of the folks I linked to has been attending it for 7 years, and another, well, I can only fathom to guess how many years Jim has been at SHOT.