Welcome Back My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends
“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends”
Or does it? That’s the big question, which I’ll address later.
This was my first NRAAM since 2019. When I started writing at Kenn Blanchard’s “Black Man With A Gun” website back in 2012, I had made attendance an annual event, at least until COVID and the malfeasance of Wayne LaPierre and his cronies became evident. So after a five-year hiatus, I booked my trip to Dallas with a combination of excitement and trepidation, not really knowing what to expect, but eager to get back in the mix.
Let me start by first answering the question: “How was the show this year?” I suppose that the short version…for me…is that it was good, but not great. Attendance, even on Saturday, was much lighter than I was accustomed to seeing at previous shows. Though I don’t have any attendance numbers from the NRA (and I suspect that they won’t be too eager to release them any time soon), let’s just say it was nowhere near the 80K-plus that used to be the norm before the pandemic. Even on Saturday, it was nowhere near the elbow-bumping days of the past, with plenty of room to navigate the aisles. If I had to make a guess…gun to my head…I’d put it more in the 50k-60k ballpark. I could be wrong.
Not exactly packed on Saturday morning.
Why? The two most obvious answers are simply the lingering impact of COVID on travel and large public gatherings, and the lingering (and likely greater) impact of the Wayne LaPierre scandal. I know many are refusing to support the NRA in any way until the LaPierre regime is completely exorcised from the organization, and I completely understand that. A third reason offered by my friend Kat is that “show culture,” as she put it, simply may be dying off. “They just aren’t as necessary as they used to be,” she said.. ”When you can watch a few YouTube videos and learn everything you need to know about a product, why do you need to go to a show?” She’s got a point. And it’s not just the consumers who don’t need shows as much anymore. The other side of the coin is that vendors don’t need them as much, either. Buying booth space, buying booth components, shipping them to the venue, pulling staff and product to go to the show, and then bringing it all home again is a very expensive undertaking. Again, when they can produce some videos and other web content to showcase their products, why would a company bother taking that show on the road?
Sig Sauer brought their “A” game.
As much as who was at the show, I thought it was pretty telling to note who wasn’t at the show. Big names like Brownell’s and MidwayUSA were absent, as well as Vortex Optics…to name a few. While some like Sig Sauer and Springfield Armory had large, flashy setups, I also couldn’t help but notice how others were far more conservative. Smith & Wesson, for example, was set up literally in the back corner of one of the halls, and the best word I can come up with to describe their display is “sparse.” It was almost as if their attendance was a last-minute afterthought. Then again, it may be that they simply felt that “the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze” following their big move to Tennessee, and that the expenditure on a big show just didn’t make sense right now.
Not much going on at Smith & Wesson, back in the corner.
Still, there were plenty of good things to see this year. Probably my favorite was the new striker-fired, optic-ready RM1C, from Rost Martin. At least for my hand, the ergonomics were excellent, as was the trigger. At a very appealing price point ($459 MSRP), it could turn out to be a truly viable choice in a defensive handgun. Though it will be an uphill climb for the new gun company to break into a market full of established manufacturers, I admit to having high hopes for the future of this gun and for Rost Martin. I think they’re off to a great start.
Another pistol I was able to handle for the first time was the Springfield Armory Echelon. Again, it has ergonomics that work well, and with interchangeable grip modules (almost industry standard these days), it wasn’t hard for me to find one that fit me perfectly. The trigger was as good as you’ll find on a striker-fired gun. But the Echelon’s “secret sauce” is the "Variable Interface System optic mount, which allows for the mounting of a huge variety of optics without the use of adapter plates. Is it a “Glock-killer”? Probably not, but the adaptability provided by these features make it a truly viable option in a service pistol. Also, the fact that the Echelon is built around a self-contained and serialized trigger unit (SA calls it the Central Operating Group), you know that compact versions for concealed carry can’t be far behind.
I could have sworn I took some pics of the Echelon at the show, but if I did, I sure can’t find them. Here’s Springfield’s promo video of the Echelon instead…
Silencers were another hot commodity this year. So hot, in fact, that I couldn’t help myself and finally took the plunge by ordering a Banish Backcountry from Silencer Central. The big three in the suppressor business (Silencer Central, Silencer Shop, and SilencerCo) were busy all weekend, but Silencer Central made it too easy for me to lay my money down. They were set up with customer service representatives and all the necessary equipment to take you all the way through the process on site, and walk away with your suppressor ordered and Form 4 application e-filed with the ATF. I had had my eye on the Banish Backcountry for some time, and at the NRAAM, Silencer Central took away all my excuses for not pulling the trigger. Done and done.
Done and done. Now we wait.
Other guns I saw that caught my eye were the Rock Island Armory RIA 5.0e, the Savage Stance (their 1911s were also very nice), and the Thunder Ranch edition Mossberg defensive shotguns. I also found some youth-sized Springfield M1903 replicas in .22LR from Keystone Sporting Arms that were adorable. (I’m far from kid-sized these days, but I want one!) My search for rifles in 7mm PRC was also pretty fruitful. I liked the design improvements on the Ruger American Gen II enough to put it on the short list, and got a Sig Sauer rep to confess that the Cross Magnum rifle in 7mm PRC is on the way very soon.
Of course, the other big question of the weekend was, “How is the NRA itself.” I wish I had some answers. If you want more detailed reportage on the political maneuvering within the organization, I’ll simply point you to the blog of my friend John Richardson, Only Guns And Money, who is better informed on the issue than I am.
I did have a couple of paragraphs on my general perceptions on the situation, but the gods of the internet, or the gods of the laptop computer, or more likely, the gods of the fat finger conspired to delete them permanently. I didn’t have time to recreate them before I had to go to work, and it would seem that they are now what we called in the Army “OBE”…overcome by events. The meeting of the Board of Directors has concluded with the election of LaPierre collaborator/sympathizer/amigo Bob Barr as the new President, but with three ostensible reformers elected as Executive Vice President, 1st VP, and 2nd VP.
Though my hat is off to the reformers who have waded into the fight…and made some significant headway…I fear that it may not be enough to stave off the apparent leadership and financial crisis facing the NRA. Some of the numbers thrown around during the debate over a proposal for a move to Texas at the Meeting of Members were truly frightening. Below is a video of most of that discussion
In short, my gut feeling is that if the toehold the reform movement gained isn’t enough to at least begin righting the ship, the NRA may not see the year 2025. As the saying goes, that which cannot be sustained…won’t be. The organization cannot go on like this much longer.
