Seriously? Why?
It makes no bloody sense.

Loaded gun free.

A ND could result in permanently closing the show.

I've heard it's required by the insurance companies.

Because idiots

D. All of the above.

Because theres a lot of utterly stupid gun owners and you have to prepare for the one ding bat that's likely to have a negligent discharge. There's no shortage of incidents where some dummy has a round go off at a gun show so because of a few the majority has to be treated like children. There was a great gun show in my area that doesn't exist anymore because some clown was playing with his carry gun and it went off. Fortunately no one was injured but afterward the facility refused to allow anymore gun shows.

I won't go to them for just that reason.
It's like they're trying to alienate their only clientele.

One of the LGS in my area sent out an email a few weeks ago with this awesome message:


They immediately had a huge uproar of complaints which caused them to send out a follow up email the next day rescinding that message.
People should just stop going to gun shows - then maybe the people hosting them would change their tune....

Liability concerns.

Because it turns into Show and Tell .. And they turn into 3rd graders all over again. .


Or it becomes You show me yours and Ill show you mine.. and it becomes Prom night. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
Seriously? Why?
It makes no bloody sense.

Don't know about your shows, but at ours, a whole lotta people are armed.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by creslin:
Seriously? Why?
It makes no bloody sense.

Don't know about your shows, but at ours, a whole lotta people are armed.

We can't - they have metal detectors you have to walk through in order to even get in.

Fudds.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
Loaded gun free.

A ND could result in permanently closing the show.

Ours here in Raleigh - I think that's the one referred to in the OP - had exactly that, at the entrance to the show, in 2013.

Oh, yeah and another accidental shooting in 2016, this time in the parking lot.

So....to answer the OP's question, the reason the show went 'unloaded weapons only' is idiots.

I've been behind the tables for 5 years in that time I've done roughly 200 shows. During that time there has been at least 7 negligent discharges inside the venue and more then a few in the parking lot. I've had 4 handgun trades pulled out of pockets that were loaded and a rifle that was ziptied shut with a round in the chamber cocked and off safe. Additionaly, 2 people have pointed "unloaded" guns at me that turned out to be loaded.

The worst one asked if I had a Ruger LCP, I pointed it out on my table. He reached into his pocket pulled out his carry gun, finger in the trigger guard mag in place and said "no I want one with laser like this". As I'm controlling his muzzle screaming at him to let it go he States "oh and by the way it's loaded."

I don't necessarily agree with the policy, but I'm not surprised. We allow carry in the store but I ask that it remains holstered. In the last 18 months I've had 30-40 guns come in on trade that were loaded. Also have had numerous customers pulled their loaded handgun and want to try holsters.

Because Murphy....

Even the most careful person can have an ND with enough handling. The liability insurance would be astronomical. I was at a gun show last year where an ND occurred. Freaked me right out.

What is that old adage? There are three times when you're most likely to have an ND. When you loading, unloading, or playing with it.

What do people do all day long with guns at a gun show? I guarantee it's not the first two.

While it is not really a gun show, I did like that the NRA convention is not a gun free zone.

It's a tad annoying, but the Puyallup Fairgrounds itself is a gunfree zone, so that's a big reason why the WAC shows don't permit one to be "armed", plus there could be an insurance component.

Though, to be fair, a gunshow would still be a really dumb place to try something overtly nefarious, there's cops all over, uniformed and likely undercover, as well as plenty of folk with guns, that all they need do it snap off that flimsy ziptie, or just plainly ignore the rule about carry and keep it concealed.

I know of two incidents locally in Atlanta, both in the same venue- the North Atlanta Trade Center hosting a Matt Eastman Gun Show.
The first, in the late 1990s, a vendor's wife accidentally shot him in the ass with a .40 caliber Glock. He survived. Perhaps the marriage did not.
The second one, within the last few years, was a child who lost his life after being shot accidentally by a dealer IIRC.

So many people and so many guns concentrated into one place- these rules are necessary.

quote:

Why are gun shows "gun free zones"?

Hypocrisy, plain and simple.
There needs to be some order but not blanket liberal policy.
I shouldn't be any different than any other area.