The organizer of a gun show this weekend in Garden City says he expects around 4000 people to attend. Paul Snider has organized gun shows in the West and Northwest for more than 30 years. He says this weekend’s show at Expo Idaho could attract 25 percent more people than past gun shows he's organized in the same venue.
Snider is based in Lewiston. He expects the larger audience as a result of the December shootings in Newtown, Conn., and President Obama’s plans for increased gun control.
“And people are afraid of that. And therefore there is a lot of extra buying going on for the items that they think he’s going to restrict in any way,” Snider says.
That includes ammunition, high capacity magazines and guns that can shoot a high volume of bullets quickly.
Snider says attendance at his gun shows increased after the president’s re-election in November. It's stayed high since the Newtown shootings. He estimates crowds at a show he organized last weekend in Spokane were 15 to 20 percent larger than normal.
Snider has hired extra staff and security for this weekend’s show in the Treasure Valley. He'll use the extra staff to open an additional admission line to cut down on waiting. The security is for theft prevention.