Category: Guns

Just to put this out there, I’m reducing the number of posts about the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show to one a day. We’ve covered the apparent collapse of the show pretty thoroughly, but it remains newsworthy to highlight just how our gun culture has really learned to stand up for one another in the last several years.

Last night, Pennsylvania’s Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie Gray – billed as the ESOS’s guest of honor – canceled her appearances at the show. She posted on Facebook:

As an avid outdoors woman who grew in this sport in part due to my experience at ESOS, it’s a decision that doesn’t come easy but I have decided that I will NOT participate. My decision is due to what I feel would be an inability as an Olympic athlete to represent my sport, industry and USA Shooting teammates in the best possible manner given the political climate that will be present as a result of the decisions that have been made.

Perhaps the biggest news that doesn’t seem to be confirmed anywhere through a statement, but the official ESOS website now only lists one sponsor willing to be associated with them – Progressive Insurance. Cabela’s and Outdoor Channel have officially dropped out, but the disappearance of the Comcast logo indicates that maybe they don’t even want to be associated with the fiasco that this has become.

When it comes to the diversity of sportsmen standing with us, it has so far mostly been from hunters and archers. However, today Towne Marine announced that they are pulling their massive 30 boat display out of the ESOS in protest of their decision to ban modern semi-automatic firearms. Based on the map on the website, it appears they were the second largest display in the fishing hall.

The other interesting turn of events surrounds an archery event at the ESOS. It’s a world qualifier event, so it’s not something to just cancel without serious harm to the sport. However, the International Bowhunting Organization clearly felt they needed to something to stand up for gun rights even though they are trying hard not screw competitors who need to compete in this qualification. Here’s the meat of their statement on how they are striking the balance:

The PA-3D Bowhunter’s Challenge and IBO Indoor Nationals will take place as previously advertised, albeit without IBO representation. The local PA-3D Bowhunters organization has opted to host and oversee the shooting event on its own. The logistics involved in administering the competition, along with registered participants’ concerns with travel plans and airline reservations, are contributing factors for the decision to continue these events.

Proceeds received by the IBO in shooter fees, along with the Rinehart Target Fee, will be donated to the National Rifle Association specifically to fight the threats to The Second Amendment currently being faced by law-abiding American firearms owners.

The IBO stands with those who have chosen to boycott the Eastern Sports and Outdoor show and strongly condemns the action taken by Reed Exhibitions. (emphasis added)

Going back to the gun world, surprisingly, it took GunBroker until late this afternoon to pull out of the show. Given their reliance on business from people who absolutely support semi-automatic rifles, I would have assumed they would have pulled themselves out earlier.

While we have focused on many of the smaller vendors who are pulling out, news also comes today that one of the largest vendors that had space in four key sections of the show has joined the boycott.

Sportsmans Liquidations is one of the largest vendors at the show, Locker said. It originally had signed up for a large chunk of space — 130 booths, typically 10- by 10- feet apiece, split up into four different areas at the show.

Speaking of those smaller vendors, Keystone Country Store in Ft. Loudon, PA deserves some attention for their efforts. Not only are they pulling out of the show, but they told the media that they are instead having a celebration for the Second Amendment at their store. Part of the proceeds from their celebration will go to the NRA.

For the non-profits that have pulled their booths from the ESOS, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs announced that they are currently working with Cabela’s to get special days set up there to promote the organizations that are taking a huge hit by joining the boycott.

Given the size of some of the new boycotters, I think it’s safe to say that upwards of 1/4 of the show will be empty this year. If Comcast really did pull out as a sponsor, then they have lost 3/4 of their sponsors for the year. On Facebook, the boycott page has nearly twice as many followers as the actual ESOS itself. According to media reports, Reed Exhibitions plans to release a statement sometime this week. At this point, you really have to wonder what on earth they plan to say.

Today, the primary anti-gun organization in Pennsylvania decided to host a rally in the Capitol. In response, some gun owners decided to counter it. It’s still not over, and I hope that the pro-gun folks remain respectful and simply stick to some post-rally lobbying rather than trying to argue with hardcore anti-gun advocates.

Here are a few reports of what has happened so far. PAIndependent posted a photo of CeaseFire PA’s indoor rally that looks to be about 150-200 people. They also noted that the outdoor rally by gun rights folks didn’t do too shabby given the weather:

Impressive crowd at this morning’s #gunrights rally on Capitol steps, considering the wind chill is in the negatives. At least 100 here.

— PA Independent (@PAindependent) January 23, 2013

And here’s a great sign with a photo courtesy of @JonEMTP:

UPDATE: A later report says that there were about 250 pro-gun people.

NRA was part of the team that tried to reason with Reed Exhibitors over their ban on modern sporting rifles at the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. They didn’t make any call to officially pull out until tonight. Now, they have. NRA had multiple large booths set up for the general organization, Friends of NRA, and their hunting services program. Apparently, whatever conversation broke down yesterday broke down spectacularly.

I’ve pondered privately if the decision to ban modern semi-automatic firearms from the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show was actually made prior to any key deadlines for vendors to pull out of their contracts with minimal loss of deposits. I don’t know the key contract dates since I’m not a vendor, but we do seem to have some level of confirmation that Reed Exhibition did not disclose their decision to vendors in a timely manner.

Reed’s statement on the ban – which appears to have been news to many of the exhibitors – appeared on January 15. That’s 8 days ago. Rumor started to leak publicly around January 11. That’s only 12 days ago. According to a member of the NSSF Board of Governors, they knew about the looming ban for nearly a month and tried to get Reed to change its position.

As a member of the Board of Governors of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, I have been working, in good faith, with Reed to find a compromise to allow the show to continue at the caliber to which my fellow exhibitors, manufacturers and the more than 200,000 attendees have come to expect. After nearly a month of discussions, which concluded yesterday, I believe a compromise will not be reached.

I also made a comment to Sebastian earlier today that something must have come to a head today or yesterday. To suddenly have Smith & Wesson and Ruger announce they won’t support the show, along with The Outdoor Channel suddenly no longer being listed as an event sponsor, and big groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation dropping out, it was all quite a bit for one day. The statement from The Sportman’s Shop confirms that something big happened yesterday that was enough to send most of the industry fleeing without looking back.

Several people have said that the real impact to Reed’s bottom line may not be this year. Instead, it will likely be next year. Here’s what one vendor has to say about the economic bind he’s in with the show:

Provided Reed doesn’t change its stance, something Olien said the company told him it does not intend to do, Olien will decided by the weekend if it’s worth risking the trip.

One things is for sure.

Even if he comes this year, there will be no second trip for MN next winter.

He predicts a lot of vendors will be making a similar decision.

“I can’t afford to be associated with a show that’s so wishy-washy,” Olien said. “It’s been a wonderful show in the past, but they really flubbed it up. This show will always have a stigma as being that show.”

Reed has successfully made the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show a dirty brand name. For exhibitors, they have created the perception that they are unreliable and will not treat you fairly. For attendees, they are still promising celebrities and vendors they cannot deliver. At this point, the local media hitting Reed’s target audience for attendance is reporting that attendees can expect about 15% of booths to be empty. There’s still another week and a half for more vendors to pull out, so that could increase – along with the number of headlines about how much smaller the show will be. If people pay their $14/head to get in and find out that many of the stalls are empty, they will not be pleased and will not return for future shows.

Reed may have told NSSF that all legal firearms will be allowed next year, but it’s pretty clear that all vendors will not return, nor will all attendees.

This isn’t quite a Cabela’s level exit from the East Coast’s (previously) largest sportmen’s show since Cabela’s was an actual sponsor instead of just an exhibitor, but it is very close because of the major profile of the company.

Ruger addresses the concern that so many smaller vendors have about pulling out of this show. It’s not that they don’t support the Second Amendment, it’s that the can often see the difference between profit and loss for the entire year based on the sales at this single show.

One such company is GUTNTAG, a Pennsylvania company that I found mentioned in one of the many headline stories about regional exhibitors pulling out. Their statement says that they are really true believers in the Second Amendment even though they sell cooking seasonings:

We have made the costly decision to withdraw because it is the right thing to do. We are a young company that relies on this one venue to create our operating capital for the year; however we cannot support uninformed businesses caving to political pressures caused by broadly politicized events. We proudly support the 2nd Amendment in the capacity for which it was intended; the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. Our freedom to do so was not for hunting or competition shooting, but protection for law abiding citizens.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” Friends, if we continue to give in inch-by-inch, we will find ourselves with no protection and a tyrannical government.

With such a strong statement, we decided that we’ll show them some support and buy their seasonings.

I think some of the most interesting reactions have been from folks who are still baffled by NSSF’s request for consumers to continue to support the gun banning exhibition company. This is the take from celebrity hunter Lee Lakosky:

“I don’t know why the NSSF would promote this ban just to please one vendor out of twelve hundred,” he said. “Anyone who believes this isn’t a big deal is wrong. It is a big deal because this is where it starts. There’s a reason for the Second Amendment and we all need to band together and stand behind it.”

Jim Shepherd from The Outdoor Wire had this to say about the statement this morning:

Saying the “hunting and shooting sports community needs to be unified in the face of political challenges” while encouraging attendance at an event which has banned the nation’s most popular and best-selling rifle seems contradictory.

People on Twitter also shared my sentiments when I posted that my first reaction was “WTF?” Granted, The Outdoor Wire adds more to the context in terms of how NSSF may have been limited in how strongly they could condemn Reed Exhibitions, but I don’t think anyone would have complained if they simply cut the last two paragraphs from their statement – the two where they actively encouraged people to give Reed money, even as they ban modern semi-automatic rifles.

TOW notes that as big as many attendees believe that SHOT is for Reed (they manage it on behalf of NSSF), it’s a drop in the bucket compared to their other shows. Hell, even in this industry, the 60,000 people who attend SHOT don’t compare to the estimated 200,000 who attend the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. And, unlike SHOT, Reed is directly making $14/head for every single one of those attendees, plus the exhibitor fees of many thousands of dollars.

At this point, ESOS is starting to recognize the backlash. They finally removed Cabela’s from their list of sponsors, and they have slowed their advertising promising certain celebrity speakers who has since publicly cancelled. I even saw one newspaper report that said the ESOS spokeswoman was starting to speak again – though she’s not really saying anything more than the original statement and confirming that they do have exhibitors backing out.

For those who still want to let the ESOS know how they feel about the subject – and let them know if they have lost your business as an attendee – here is a repeat listing of the contact information that they pulled down from the ESOS site right as the controversy erupted:

Group Vice President – Ed Several
Phone: 203-840-5932 Fax: 203-840-9932 Email: eseveral@reedexpo.com

Event Director – Chris O’Hara
Phone: 717-368-7487 Fax: 203-840-9868 Email: cohara@reedexpo.com

Public Relations – Deb Davis
Phone: 717-834-6267 Fax: 717-834-6207 Email: ddavis@conceptoneinc.com

Marketing – Cathy Kitlasz
Phone: 203-840-5871 Fax: 203-840-9781 Email: ckitlasz@reedexpo.com

I contacted Ms. Davis on behalf of the blog, but she has refused to respond. Of course, we’re not alone. Many media outlets have reported that they are trying to contact her and other Reed spokesmen, but they all refuse to return any calls or emails.

UPDATE: And now minutes after I hit publish, Smith & Wesson announces that they are pulling out of the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show. Wow.