*This article was produced for a class and not initially intended for publication. As such, the names of subjects have been modified throughout the piece.
Targets for the “Left,” gun shows remain socially important to 2nd amendment supporters
By Celia Heudebourg
Just as the sun sets and the day slows down in Cotton, Minnesota, dozens of snow-caked pick-up trucks start to pull up to the town’s remote Old School Lives community center. The lonely building is surrounded by pine woods; it’s only point of access is Highway 53. But, people make their way in droves to attend the AC Expos Gun Show.
Two men in bomber vests and camo-covered caps walk up to the brick building’s heavy doors. Terry, a security guard in a green vest with pouches asks them to pay the five-dollar entrance fee and stamps the back of their hands with a purple flower.
“It’s free entrance tomorrow, if you all are thinking of dropping in then too,” he says. Both men nod their heads and pick up a couple brochures with National Rifle Association (NRA) logos.
Pro-gun supporters disband after a rally at the MN state Capitol, March 2018 - Photo by Celia Heudebourg
The show itself looks like a flea market or rummage sale taking place in an old gym. A faded “Home of the Cardinals” decal adorns the walls above foldout tables covered in weapons, knives and trinkets. Some vendors stand cross-armed awaiting their first couple customers. Others sit back in camping chairs, or adjust the patterned tablecloths under their gun displays: American flags, camouflage, orange bullets on a cream backdrop...
Prospective buyers roam the aisles between displays, sometimes carrying soft-cases with guns they’ve brought to compare or ice cream they picked up from the concession stand.
“D’you see anything you like?” says a woman to her husband. The man shakes his head. He moves over to a neighboring spread of weapons, laid out on top of their hard cases. This vendor sells a collection of AR semi-automatic weapon barrels.
Lined up in a row, the black cylinders are stripped of their handles and shoulder rests. The barrels are iconic-looking symbols of the pro- and anti-gun control movements. They seem austere and powerful lying next to each other, yet also impossibly harmless. The barrels, like all other weapons at this show, are zip tied down for safety preventing people from lifting them up or touching them. A small reminder of these items dangerous capacities.
The man’s eyes guide him towards more tables.
“Now, what can you tell me about this one here?” he says, pointing at an aged-looking revolver with a long barrel. “That’s a good pick, there,” says the vendor Bob*, a hobbyist collector and private seller, who had hand-priced each of his items with fluorescent stickers and a ballpoint pen. “That’ll give you a clean shot, if you handle it right.”
His wife’s attention lazily glances over at a stand across the aisle, patiently waiting for her husband. Colored NRA patches, old baseball cards, beaver furs and war medals from WWII are scattered about. Stacks of yellowed romance novels pile up messily. She picks a few up, trying to pass time. Each cover’s illustration depicts the lead male sporting an unbuttoned shirt and prominently displaying his weapon of choice.
After some consideration, the woman’s husband scrunches his face with uncertainty, seemingly unsure of his decision. “Naw, I think I’ll pass on this one,” he says. “’Got enough of those at home. Maybe next time. But thanks man, see you ’round.”
The man and his wife move along, narrowly running into two blond girls in pig tails playing tag in the aisles.
“Hey now, enough of that,” yells rare coin vendor Thomas* to them from his nearby stand. “Your gonna knock something over! Go find your dad. He’s over there.”
***
Cotton’s gun show, like many others that take place in small localities, is a confluence of customers, vendors, friends and relatives that come together. It serves as more than an event people attend to buy and sell guns. For this town of just 450 residents, the show is a gathering space, an excuse for locals to come together and socialize. Everybody here knows everyone else. The guns are almost a side attraction.
“We get together, and we become friends with them,” says John*, a private vendor. “I often sell a gun to someone and a month later, I’ll sell one to the same person. You earn their trust. You grow some friendships.”
John stops to greet a white-haired man in a veteran’s cap using a walker, who seems to have his eye set on a silver-plated rifle. “Like this fine gentleman here,” John said, as he shakes the man’s hand. “I see him at every gun show and its friendship.”
“It’s all about the comradery of everyone coming together,” Denise Kare* said. “There’s a real sense of community. It’s like an ice cream social.”
Kare, a former police officer who recently developed a taste for hunting, organizes the show with her husband. She is the matriarch of the bunch. Her calm voice and motherly affect are a source of warmth and welcoming to others. Her careful makeup and gold earrings hint to a form of elegance she conducts herself with.
Kare understands the realities of modern gun culture and the perception outsiders’ may have of her gun show. She tries to be especially welcoming to all customers. Kare spends most of her time away from her stand, interacting with vendors and customers, trying to engage with new faces.
She commits to those relationships. When her favorite customer Lewis*’s dog died, she made sure the gun show community stood with him.
“He’s been so lost without it and I’ve been looking everywhere in humane societies to try to replace this dog,” Kare said as she readjusts the concealed weapon strapped under her camo vest to her right hip. “So, on our website, we went and did a memorial for the dog. It was really great, because all the vendors knew Lewis’ dog.”
While Kare, John and the Cotton, MN gun show represent the ways a gun show, like a barbecue or a book club, can help small and increasingly aging communities endure rural isolation, these events remain hotly-debated in mainstream political discourse.
Nationwide, gun shows have become synonymous with the word “loophole”, a perceived gap in the gun control system. The shows are targets for the political left set on dismantling them. Yet, to many gun aficionados, maintaining these spaces is both socially important and politically crucial in the fight against gun control.
The Loophole and the Law
In Minnesota, gun shows take place multiple times a month, throughout the state, in venues both rural and urban. Events are sponsored and organized by gun clubs, licensed dealers, or lobbying groups.
All, however, share a common characteristic: private sellers and licensed dealers intermingle and sell weapons side-by-side. Often, the only barrier to sell guns at a show is a one-time fee of $35 and the ability to move and set up your own merchandise. This makes it feasible for anybody with extra guns or ammunition to become a vendor for a weekend.
At a licensed dealer’s gun show stand, a customer has to show a “permit to acquire” at the time of purchase, if buying a handgun or assault rifle. For all weapons, the seller would also have to call into the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to verify the customer’s right to purchase.
Both commercial and private sellers are required to abide by minimum age requirements on gun sales — 21 to buy a handgun and 18 to buy an assault rifle or long rifle. However, private sales do not legally require the seller to conduct a background check. Nor is there any formal way to trace whether age limits, mental health conditions and other restrictions on purchasing a gun were respected.
In fact, under Minnesota law, if a private seller sells a gun to a legally unfit person online or at a gun show, the purchase is deemed illegal, but the sale is not, thereby exonerating the seller.
Currently just a handful of states, including New York, Illinois, California and Colorado, require both private and commercial gun sellers to conduct universal background check. Minnesota does not.
A Political Project
In the weeks after the Parkland, Fla. shooting that killed 17 people in February, Minnesota legislators have sought to respond to the national debate on gun rights and gun control by advancing measures they believe could prevent further attacks.
To date, over 35 bills have been presented in the Minnesota State House and Senate. Some proposals call for arming and training school teachers. Others call for placing higher age restrictions for assault-rifle purchases, banning bump stocks and limiting ammunition capacities.
Many bills have also repeatedly called for an end to unregulated private sales and transfers, targeting specifically online purchases and gun shows.
In response, gun shows are increasingly becoming a safe space for conservative stances on gun rights, in addition to being an event for socializing.
Attendees are cognizant of the highly charged political environment gun shows are taking place in. However, many believe gun rights are critically under attack. They seek solace in gun shows, where support and shared ideals around gun rights are abundant.
“Everyone in here, no matter what their background is, whether its hunting or self-defense, we all have that common ground,” says Sarah Kouma* behind her stand at the St. Paul State Fairgrounds gun show. “We all believe we should keep and bear arms as in the Constitution and that those rights shouldn’t be infringed. I just think it’s a really cool environment.”
Kouma, who wears a defiant “Come And Take Them”-printed elastic band with a picture of an AR-15 assault-rifle, doesn’t believe a government should have more weapons that its citizenry.
“I’m not anti-government,” Kouma said. “But I am anti-tyranny.”
Kouma is not alone in her beliefs.
High-schooler Brian Shaw* also believes gun rights are important to maintain a free society.
“The whole point of having the guns is to protect yourself from the disenfranchisement of the government,” says Shaw, who attends the thousands-strong gun shows in rural Wells, MN to raise money for his school’s shooting club. “If the government is taking [guns] away, then they are breaking the Constitution.”
Shaw acknowledges that a few of his classmates have expressed disapproval of gun rights after the Parkland shooting. “I hear their points, when we do debates, but…still,” Shaw says as he wipes away some dirt from his morning coyote hunt off his grey, tattered hoodie.
Marcus Riley*, a tall man in a beige button down shirt tucked into his jeans, believes more conversations and in-person experiences across both sides of the issue are lacking. “It seems like the liberal side of this country, if you agree with them, then you’re a perfect person and if you don’t, you’re evil.” Riley says.
Riley attends gun shows specialized in antiques and collectibles near the Twin Cities. “I think the reason that this is happening is that a lot of liberal people basically don’t understand guns,” Riley says.
With her gun shows, in Cotton and elsewhere, Kare tries to bridge this understanding by setting up an education booth. She believes gun shows can serve as a space for education and transferring knowledge about safety and respect from one generation to the next.
“[At gun shows,] you don’t see a lot of young people,” Kare says. “What we do is kind of a dying bread. It’s starting to fade away. And the reason is because of legislation.”
“The thing is that [politicians] aren’t realizing that you could really get educated,” Kare continues. “Young people could come down and see individuals. [Kids] pretty much think its all Nintendo games or getting on the GameBoy and killing. It’s not about that. You can hurt a person. There needs to be more of an understanding of what is real touch. We need more humanity. I just kind of feel that that’s not what we are seeing in today’s society.”
On March 6, one week after the nationally-organized March for Our Lives, supporters of gun shows and gun rights rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul to have their voices heard.
A couple hundred people stood and waved American flags and yellow “Don’t tread on me” flags. The crowd stood in stark contrast to the previous week’s march. School buses full of kids carrying “Nuck the FRA” signs were replaced by men and women proudly wearing AR-15s, hunting rifles and lanyards of bullets on their chests.
Jordan*, an avid hunter and regular gun show attendee, brought his 15-year-old son Dan* to the rally, his first time marching for a cause.
“We’re just here to be out and be seen,” Jordan says. “It’s important. When you look at the principles our country was founded on, the way we kept ourselves safe for all these years, it just doesn’t make sense to punish law abiding citizens because there’s a percentage of sickos that want to hurt people.”
Adam*, another march attendee, chose to wear a bullet proof vest and a two-foot long pistol on his chest, pointed at the ground. “I’m not a rally type of guy,” Adam says. “But I wanted to come out. This is one thing that, politics aside, is important to me. I feel like a vast amount of the country is getting emotional. But, I’m never gonna hurt anybody, so I feel attacked and brought into something that I’m not a part of.”
Outside of the handful of response rallies held this spring after the March for Our Lives, venues for pro-gun rights political organizations have been limited.
One space that lobbying groups and activists are using to mobilize grassroots efforts are gun shows.
Throughout the months of March and April, anybody attending a gun show in Minnesota could expect to see bright orange fliers in people’s hands detailing the most recent bills being proposed in the state legislature and advertising for ways people can support the Minnesota Gun Owners’ Caucus.
MN Gun Owners’ Caucus Political Director Ron Dennis* describes the group as the voice of Minnesota’s gun owners at the state capitol.
At every gun show, Dennis clips his nametag to his polo shirt and spends the afternoon talking to attendees about gun rights and giving people updates on any latest legislative actions.
At the Wells, MN gun show, which took place just a few weeks after the Parkland shooting, a woman curiously approached Dennis’ table, as her frustrated daughter wearing a Girl Scout uniform tugged at her arm in the opposite direction.
— “So, what do you think about this show happening in a public school, after everything?” the woman said.
— “Oh yeah, I guess it’s a little strange,” Dennis said. “I can see that.”
— “I guess it’s the biggest place around, right?” the woman said.
— “Yeah, I guess in these rural locations, there aren’t all the venues like in the Cities,” Dennis said. “Have a brochure. I think there’s gonna be some movement at the Capitol in the next few weeks, if you’re interested.”
Kouma also views gun shows as an opportunity to find out what her peers have to say about current legislation and then organize politically. She often meets groups outside of shows to talk about politics and how to navigate being a gun owner in the largely liberal metro area of Saint Paul.
“These types of bills, honestly they scare me,” Kouma says. “A lot of it has to do with the people that will need to be enforcing them: law enforcement. For me, as an African-American, this is an open-carry state. And I cannot open carry. If you look at things like Philando [Castile], he was following the law, and he was still murdered.”
Growing Figures
The legislature and media have started to gear up for the midterm elections this coming fall. Meanwhile, the Parkland shooting begins to fade in the collective rearview mirror alongside other national tragedies. It’s unclear at this moment, whether any of the proposed bills expanding gun control or gun rights will pass. However, ownership is on the rise in Minnesota.
According to a 2017 study published in The Star Tribune, the number of background checks carried out for long-guns have remained steady over the last twenty years, which is indicative of the state’s penchant for hunting. However, the number of background checks for hand guns have skyrocketed over the past five years. Overall, Minnesotans are buying more guns, and transitioning from hunting rifles, to handguns.
Minnesota’s hunting culture remains strong and a large reason behind many online and gun show purchases. However, gun ownership and the demographics of gun ownership in the state are diversifying.
“When you come into a gun show, you’re gonna have a variety,” Kouma says. “It’s not all guns. It’s basically the art of the culture.”
The gun show culture is indeed evolving to accommodate more than just rifles and weapons.
As trap-shooting and rifle sports have grown in high schools state-wide, shows are trying to cater to younger crowds with eye-catching gadgets: toy-guns, pocket knives, bright pink and blue rifles…
“I think the rise of trap shooting recognizes guns as a sport and not as a weapon,” says Julie Smith*, an adult on-set hunter. “I kind of wonder how the culture will change that way.”
Bradley*, a private seller and antiques collector says both of his kids participated in shooting sports. “The kids are going nuts for it. The boys and the girls,” Bradley says. “They have a whole bunch of teams, they compete each other and they don’t have to get beat up playing football, which is cool.”
As an antiques and history buff, Bradley also represents a facet of the gun show world that brings diversity to the events. Bradley sees collectible guns as art, not as weapons.
At his stand at the Eagan Heritage Arms Society gun show, Bradley displays rifles from the late 19th century. He spends time showing off cannonball-loading guns and pamphlets about Lewis and Clark’s pellet rifles to passers-by.
“There’s history with any of them. It’s just fascinating,” Bradley says.
Although he doesn’t hunt, Bradley occasionally shoots clay birds. But, he readily admits his interest in weapons has little to do with their ability to fire.
“Every time I pick up [a gun],” Bradley says. “I wonder as I’m holding it, who held this gun, what did this thing do. Yeah, it might of killed, but it might of helped some guy survive, in them days when you had to. I just get the chills thinking about it. Was it in a war? Did it fight in the war of 1812? I don’t know. There’s just so much history there.”
MN Gun Owners Caucus Outreach Coordinator Lily Senneth* tries to dispel stereotypes about who gun owners are and what they look like. “As a woman, I get this a lot,” Senneth says. “A lot of people think its all old white guys, and its not. It’s a lot more diverse. There’s definitely some pro-gun liberals in the metro [area].”
Kouma, who acts as a manager for an African American Heritage Gun Club, also often tries to dispel assumptions. Many of her black friends refuse to attend gun shows because of racist artifacts or Nazi memorabilia that get displayed by some private sellers.
“It’s really not like that though,” Kouma says. “You meet a lot of interesting people.”
In trying to gain appeal, some gun shows chose to not prevent the sale of racist, radical or overly nationalistic messages. At Wells’ gun show, swastikas are commonplace on trinkets and knives. Patches labeled “Black Guns Matter,” “Muslim Hunter,” and “Licensed Cop Killer” sit alongside confederate flags and crudely-branded shirts.
Although other smaller gun shows, like Kare’s, have tried to curb the presence of problematic objects, to broaden their attendance base, gun shows as a whole remain a highly cultural and social space that doesn’t necessarily cater to all gun owners.
Smith began hunting upland birds as an adult when she and her wife, Carol, got a dog skilled at catching birds.
“I probably best represent a population of people that don’t worship guns and who treat them as a tool for our pursuits,” Smith says.
“It’s weird to think of myself as pro-gun.” Smith continues. She says her newly discovered passion for hunting is in fact more about getting invested in the surrounding nature and ecology. “I see myself as pro-Outdoors and pro-conservation.”
“If the country were to vote down gun ownership, I [wouldn’t] have that ‘pry it out of my cold dead hands’ thing, Smith says. “I think it’s a privilege more than a right.”
***
Faced with the potential of regulations that could one day curb gun shows’ current right to conduct business virtually unlimited, event organizers have begun to cater certain shows to more diverse groups of owners. If gun shows are to carry on unfettered, despite the mounting political pressure to regulate their loopholes, organizers know that the culture and passion for these events needs to spread to more people.
But, some, like Kare, strongly believes in the shows’ future in Minnesota.
“It’s a culture, it’s a way of living,” she says. “And for those who don’t understand it, it’s explainable.”