Welcome to the gun show

Lewis Clark Trader puts on its annual event in Post Falls

POST FALLS — Lovers of Smith & Wesson, Remington, and all things firearms can take their pick this weekend at the gun show at the Post Falls Greyhound Park and Event Center.

It is scheduled 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Patrons can find over 60 vendors with a plethora of firearms, ammunition, and other items.

“We’ll have everything but full automatics. We have a couple of semi-automatics,” said Jack Snider, an event promoter. “From 1700 flintlocks clear up to today’s model AR-15 and everything in between.”

His father, Paul Snider from Lewis Clark Trader, has been in the gun show business since 1983 and started the Post Falls event seven years ago.

Last year, it drew about 2,500 people, but with COVID-19 restrictions they are expecting a smaller turnout this weekend.

Organizers will allow 300 people into the event center at a time and there will be 6 feet between vendors.

“We want everyone to have good, safe fun,” Jack Snider said.

In May, U.S. gun sales totaled 1.7 million firearms, according to an estimate from Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting.

According to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, records for the most firearms sold in a single year was set in 2016 with an estimated 15.5 million.

This year, the total stands at roughly 10.6 million sold, according to NICBCS, with the traditional hunting and holiday seasons still months away.

“Yes, there has been a significant increase,” Jack Snider said. “I think it’s the motivation of fear. They’re afraid that they won’t be able to buy those certain guns later so they have to pick it up now.”

Vendors Donald and Dorothy Bushey, who have bought and sold firearms for over 10 years, have noticed.

“Younger people now are buying a lot of guns, a lot of them for investments,” Donald Bushey said. “They’ve become really popular with military-style weapons.”