PART THREE IN A CONTINUING SERIES ON THE IMPACT OF GUNS AND RELATED ISSUES
Attendees line up for a two-day gun show at the Richmond Raceway Complex in January. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Judging by the number of firearms transactions and permits issued by the Virginia State Police, the gun business in the Old Dominion is booming. Business owners maintain that the various gun control bills before the 2020 Virginia General Assembly have resulted in a near record number of firearms transactions and permits issued statewide in December 2019: 73,849. That number is second only to December 2012, when 75,120 transactions and permits were issued in Virginia after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before taking his own life.
Michael S. Matthews, manager of the Virginia State Police Firearms Transaction Center, cautions that neither state police nor the FBI has data showing the exact number of purchases; they only have data on the number of mandatory criminal background checks and permits issued.
Annette Elliott, president of Showmasters Gun Shows, says she's seeing an increasingly diverse group of people buying guns for self-protection. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Annette Elliott, president of Blacksburg-based Showmasters Gun Shows, says she doesn’t need to see statistics to know that the gun business is doing well statewide. Like other firearms business owners, she is concerned about changes resulting from gun-related legislation favored by Gov. Ralph Northam and the Democratic majority in the General Assembly. (With the 2020 General Assembly session scheduled to adjourn this Saturday, seven of the eight Northam-backed gun-control measures passed in the House and Senate, but lawmakers have yet to reconcile differences between similar versions of bills to implement universal background checks and restrict handgun purchases to one per month.)
“Attendance [at gun shows] is higher than ever,” Elliott says. “We are seeing more women and an increasingly diverse group of people buying guns for self-protection at our gun shows.”
She and her family have been organizing gun shows since 1971 in Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Over the years, she has witnessed steady growth in attendance — from barely 1,000 in 1971 to 9,000 at a recent two-day Showmasters event in Richmond. She estimates that such a gun show brings in $8 million to the local economy, considering sales tax, hotels, food, vendors and workers hired to help set up and break down the show.
Elliott believes the increase in attendance and firearm transactions in Virginia is because “this is about freedom, not guns. … I believe we are not in a fight for our guns, but in a fight for our liberty, country and for our lives.
“Plus,” she adds, “people are afraid.”
Elliott rejects any suggestion that gun shows attract a homogenous crowd of white, male, rural attendees. While the show in early January at the Richmond Raceway Complex contained plenty of older white men in camo gear, there were also women, families with young children in tow, people of color and millennials. After paying an admission fee of $2, attendees strolled by vendor tables in the room where they could buy not only guns and bullets, but also hunting gear, candles, bumper stickers, books, snack foods and even Japanese katana swords used by samurai warriors.
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Organizers estimate 9,000 people attended a two-day gun show at the Richmond Raceway in January. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Besides guns, attendees browsed items such as hunting gear, candles, bumper stickers and books. (Photo by Jay Paul)
A man attending with his two young sons said, “I brought them because I wanted to make sure that they aren’t afraid of guns.” Declining to give his name, he added, “I want them to know how guns work.”
Virginia State Police officers watched the crowd from the second floor of the vendor hall. There were no apparent signs of trouble, though Elliott says authorities have, in the past, arrested people for trying to purchase guns illegally. Before sales can be finalized, purchasers must complete paperwork to allow state police to conduct a background check on site.
Elliott encouraged attendees to catch a lecture by Maj Toure, a Philadelphia-based political activist and rapper who founded Black Guns Matter in 2015. Toure spoke about the right to keep and bear arms and promoting responsible ownership of firearms within African American and urban communities.
Philadelphia-based activist Maj Toure speaks at the Richmond Raceway Complex. (Photos by Carol A.O. Wolf)
“One thing I have always wondered about is why gun rights advocates are more associated with country music, instead of rap,” Toure said during his Richmond appearance. “If you have ever listened to rap, you know we talk about guns much more than country music does.” He says he started his organization because he believes “all gun control is racist” and “a gun is just a tool to defend freedom.” Toure points to historical efforts by the white establishment to restrict blacks’ use of guns, including California’s 1967 Mulford Act prohibiting open carry of loaded firearms, passed in response to demonstrations by the Black Panthers.
African Americans have “serious skin in this fight,” Toure adds. “Given the increased numbers of people killed in confrontations with the police and in the ‘hood, doesn’t it make sense for us to become a part of making sure everyone has a firearm?”
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Lawton Durden, a vendor from Charlottesville, says he appreciates the artistry of gun-making, particularly European-made firearms. Some of the guns at his booth are handmade, priced at more than $45,000. He likens them to paintings by Picasso and Van Gogh. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Some of the firearms displayed at the gun show carried price tags such as $1,700 and $2,950. (Photo by Jay Paul)
A check with several gun stores, shooting ranges and pawn shops in the area confirms that sales are thriving and that people are buying guns and signing up for firearm classes in record numbers.
Peyton Galanti, director of marketing at the Colonial Shooting Academy on West Broad Street, says that while pending Virginia legislation has resulted in increased sales and filled-to-capacity shooting and safety classes, she worries that House Bill 567, patroned by Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax), could put her family out of business. The measure would prohibit indoor shooting ranges in private buildings with large numbers of employees. She says that while the bill appears to target the National Rifle Association’s indoor shooting range in Northern Virginia, it has the potential for a wider impact.
In response, Helmer says, “We have been in conversation with many ranges and are working on amending this legislation to ensure that small businesses are not hurt by this bill while protecting public safety.” Two other measures introduced by Helmer, HB 568 and HB 569, would prohibit open carrying of firearms in vehicles and ensure that concealed-carry permit holders from out-of-state have permits that meet Virginia’s standards, respectively. “No longer will we allow a domestic abuser in another state to carry concealed weapons in Virginia,” says Helmer, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. “And it’s dangerous to have gun ranges in offices with many employees in light of recent workplace shootings.”
Galanti remains unconvinced. “I hope he means it,” she says of Helmer’s intention to amend the indoor shooting range measure. “But until it is a done deal, no one is relaxing.”
[Editor's Note: Del. Helmer’s HB 567, 568 and 569 were all killed by the House Public Safety Committee after this article was originally published in print.]
