It is named the SHOT Show, which stands for Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show. The show is owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is an American national trade association for the firearms industry.

The first SHOT Show was in St. Louis in 1979, which makes 2020 year 42 for this popular show. The 1979 show used 51,153 square feet and 290 exhibitors attended, along with 5,600 attendees.

The 2020 SHOT Show is expected to have more than 1,600 exhibitors on the floor. This year’s show will use more than 692,000 square feet of exhibit space, which is close to 16 acres. The attendee figure will not be available until after the show, but 60,000 or more is not a far-fetched figure. Last year the attendees were from all 50 states and 110 countries.

The show has settled down to Las Vegas as home to the annual gathering, although the show has been held in other locations around the country. Vegas has the hotel rooms, the large venue for the show, the transportation to and from the show and the number of restaurants needed to feed everyone.

A total of 12.5 miles would be covered if a person walked straight down every aisle. Of course, who walks straight down every aisle when there are knives on the right, guns on the left and other firearm-related products in between.

Again, the question is: What is the SHOT Show? The NSSF puts it this way:

“The SHOT Show is the once-a-year gathering place for the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry, such as manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, publishers and various non-profit organizations. It’s where a passion for firearms, ammunition and outdoors equipment, plus the industry’s unified support for the Second Amendment, are on display.”

This show is not open to the public. Only manufacturers, dealers, press, law enforcement, military and others connected to the firearm industry are allowed in the doors.

More than 2,400 members of the outdoor press attend the show. It is our duty to relay the good, the bad and the ugly parts of the new and old products on display at the show to you, our readers.

This is a large show, for sure. How big? Well, it is impossible to cover all items on display or even each booth. The time available to spend at each booth is less than 90 seconds, if the number of minutes of show time available is divided by the number of exhibitors.