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A few weeks back I attended my first gun show (hey, I'm a newbie okay) and was shocked/amazed/excited at the number of people who are also gun enthusiasts. It took my son-in-law and I only a few minutes to get into the arena, but it took one of his buddies who showed up early about 45-60 minutes to get inside the door. The place was absolutely packed.
My wife is the owner/promoter of an arts and crafts showcase that is held in the local Civic Center twice a year, so she and I are not new to the field of show promotions, and are considering having a gun show in this area. But we don't know what the regulations are for gun show promoters and was wondering if there was anyone on this forum who could point us in the right direction for information, or if you had any advice for us: what to include/exclude, etc. from your experience at gun shows. What, in your opinion, makes a good gun show?

>>preacher<<

preacher wrote:What, in your opinion, makes a good gun show?

Lot's of good guns and ammo at reasonable prices. And beef jerky and sausages.

WildBill wrote:

preacher wrote:What, in your opinion, makes a good gun show?

Lot's of good guns and ammo at reasonable prices. And beef jerky and sausages.

Love that jerky.

Small gun shows appear to be a thing of the past. I used to attend gun shows in Rosenberg, Victoria, Brenham, Winnie, Brazoria etc.

These are no longer held, AFAIK. Individuals cleaning out their closets will not support a recurring show. So the trick is to secure a suitable venue and then obtain committments from dealers who may already have a hectic gun show schedule. It might be possible to invite enough gun shops and pawn shops local to your venue who aren't on the gun show circuit.

The BoDon show, held in Port Arthur twice a year, may represent the lower threshold of survivability. It includes invididuals, local shops, and a few dealers from the Houston area. After Ike cancelled their late 2008 show, they rebounded (thanks to Obama) with a good show in April. Since I don't believe the shows in the Beaumont Civic Center are still being held, BoDon pretty much owns SE Texas. It still must be supplemented by non-gun vendors.

My advice would be to decide on a one time event or recurring, find a suitably sized venue, and sign up participants. Actually, I probably have this completely backwards, as your success in finding vendors will dictate the size of the venue and whether it survives to become a regular event.

Good luck! I miss small shows.