When you talk about “ the big show ” it doesn ’ t get much bigger than the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show , better known as the SHOT Show ! Traditionally a show catering to , you guessed it , shooters , hunters and outdoorsmen ( and women ) and all the firearms manufacturers , tactical and hunting clothing makers , ammunition producers , technology creators , and all the movers and shakers in those industries from around the world , the SHOT Show has grown since 1979 to become a massive mecca attracting thousands upon thousands of attendees and spanning several days !
Held in Las Vegas at the amazing Venetian , with some exhibitor spill-over across the street , the 2022 SHOT Show was referred to as “ ALL IN ” and for good reason – the pandemic has changed the world and altered how everything gets done , from dayto-day work to travel and trade shows and conventions . Many events and shows have simply been canceled . However , the NSSF refused to allow another SHOT Show to be defeated by COVID or anything else for that matter , and went ALL IN ! While attendance was off by over twenty percent compared to recent shows , that still brought over 43,000 registered attendees and well over 2,000 exhibitors to this amazing spectacle , that spanned 800,000 square feet of space with almost 14 miles of aisles for visitors to browse ! Before anyone asks , masks were required and provided ( and even sometimes enforced ), as was hand sanitizer by the bottle .
Those who had attended pre-pandemic SHOT Shows described attendance as clearly off , with the usually-jam-packed aisles and overflowing booths steady , but not crowded with people walking , standing and browsing elbow-to-elbow . While the lines for coffee in the morning were long , as were the waits at restaurants for lunches
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