S.H.O.T. Show

SHOT Show Best of Day 2 – Off Duty, Technology – Army Times

So we are here at SHOT show for a week of guns and gear. The four of us, me, C. Mark, Rob C., and Sheila have been gathering string for our annual gear guide that includes products for 16 categories. While lounging around the 600k sq. foot show floor we have been sending back video and stills of our ‘picks of the day.’

It’s been exhausting. Making the tree video pieces each night has been fun, but the process of editing, compressing and transmitting has meant an 8am to 3am work day. Today, though, we only shot stills and I managed to clear myself by 10pm.

The show itself has been about what I expected. Lots of cool toys, remarkably, many that don’t go ‘boom’. Although this might be the biggest gun show, ever, it’s surprising just how many vendors are here that aren’t showing guns. There is a huge market built around hunting, police and tactical firearms that includes things like knives, backpacks, gear bags, dietary supplements, fitness products and services, hearing protection, clothing, navigation, weather stations…and we even found a company selling camouflage lingerie.

It’s been a lot of work, but by today, day 3, C. Mark and I got in enough of a groove to have some fun poking around. I must say that things did get off to a bit of a rough start when we checked in on the first day.

I guess a lot of the exhibitors complained about certain people and crews getting access to the show floor with the intention of ambushing top level firearm industry execs with ethical questions about guns and such, al la Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine.

So, before the show organizers would give us our ‘broadcast’ credentials, we had to have somebody from the industry ‘vouch’ for us as responsible (and gun friendly?)journalists. It ticked me, off, but it’s a private show. What’s worse than the actual request, was that they pretty much ambushed us with it. We could have complied pretty easily anytime in weeks prior to the show, had we known there was a credibility requirement.

There were no harsh words, just some scrammbling to find a freindly PR person that would answer a cell phone the day before the busiest 5 days of the year for them. It all worked out, but it did make me feel a little dirty, having to rely on a possible story source to get access to the show. The process could be seen as making us appear to be beholded to the companies that vouch for us.

Lasty, on this subject, only the people shooting video were subject to this extra hurdle. I guess because it’s pretty tough to get an embarrasing still photo or print interview without resorting to making something up. So, on the flip-side, I guess I could thank the organizers for not putting out a blanket policy for all media.