41st SHOT Show Kicks Off at Sands Expo in Las Vegas
The world’s largest trade show for target shooting, hunting, outdoor and law enforcement products injects more than $88 million to Las Vegas and Nevada economies.
The 41st Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) opened today at the Sands Expo Center and will span four days, running Jan. 22-25. The 2019 show marks the 21st time the show has been in Las Vegas, where it has been at the Sands Expo Center continuously the last 10 years.
SHOT Show will attract more than 60,000 professionals from the firearms and outdoor industry to view new, innovative products used for target shooting, hunting, outdoor recreation and law enforcement purposes.
The SHOT Show is a boon to the Las Vegas and Nevada business community, pumping more than $88 million in non-gaming revenue into the economy. SHOT Show attracts more than 2,400 exhibiting companies occupying more than 692,000 net square feet of exhibit space, completely filling the Sands Expo.
Demand for exhibit space at the show reflects the high-interest Americans have for firearms ownership and recreational shooting equipment. NSSF surveys show that some 40 million Americans would like to learn more about the target-shooting sports.
Owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearms industry trade association, SHOT Show is the largest trade show of its kind in the world. The show is open to trade members only and not to the public. No firearms are transferred at the show. Consumers will see the products unveiled at SHOT Show on retailers’ shelves throughout the coming the year.
Firearms safety is a major theme of the show, with the industry’s leading gun safety initiatives — NSSF’s Project ChildSafe and Operation Secure Store among them — looking to expand their industry partnerships, with the goal of helping to further reduce firearms accidents, thefts and misuse. Project ChildSafe is a national program that works with local law enforcement agencies to educate the public about safe firearms storage practices and distribute free firearms locks. NSSF’s new Operation Secure Store, an initiative in partnership with ATF, is designed help Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) make well-informed security-related decisions to deter and prevent firearms thefts.
Many official show events cluster around the four days of SHOT Show itself, creating “SHOT Week.” These include the 5th Annual NSSF/HAVA Golf Classic in support of Honored American Veterans Afield, a firearms industry-run charitable organization that helps the healing of disabled combat veterans and their reintegration back into normal life through participation in hunting and shooting sports.
The expanded two-day Supplier Showcase is a show-within-a-show, with more than 540 OEM third-party suppliers meeting with exhibiting manufacturers and exploring their needs for extrusions, fabrication, fabrics, machinery, metal, plastics, software, logistical support and tools. The event has more than doubled in size since its introduction at the 2017 show.
New this year, the show is introducing a one-day Pop-Up Preview section, where more than 230 new exhibitors will showcase clothing, footwear, cameras, tents and other gear that today’s hunters and outdoors enthusiasts demand.
Education has always been an important component of SHOT Show and includes the full-day SHOT University and a variety of shorter Retailer Seminars taking place throughout the show week for retailers, as well as a dedicated law enforcement education program. In the past, presenters have included representatives from ATF, FBI and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Through its FixNICS program, NSSF has helped to significantly improve the FBI’s NICS database by adding the names of persons legally prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm.
On the day before SHOT Show opens, Industry Day at the Range, with more than 200 exhibitors, provides hands-on experience to hundreds of firearms, ammunition, optics and vehicles to more than 1,600 invited outdoor media members and buyers. NSSF is the title sponsor of the event. More than 2,400 members of the press cover SHOT Show.
Throughout the show, NSSF will be promoting its new +ONE initiative encouraging hunters and target shooters to mentor newcomers, as well as its fast-growing National Shooting Sports Month, which takes place annually each August.
For the 10th year in a row, the SHOT Show will take place at the Sands Expo Center. SHOT is the largest event hosted at the Sands and attracts buyers from all 50 states and 111 countries. Some 12.5 miles of aisles lead to displays of firearms, ammunition, gun safes, locks and cases, optics, shooting range equipment, targets, training and safety equipment, hunting accessories, law enforcement gear, hearing and eye protection, tree stands, scents and lures, cutlery, GPS systems and other electronics, holsters, apparel, leather goods, game calls and decoys.