Review: 2008 Suncoast Gun Show at the Florida State Fairgrounds

When you think of the words "gun show" you can safely assume that it's an event for gun collectors, and firearm lovers. Honesty, I thought this event was going to be somewhat enjoyable, even though I'm not a gun owner. The Suncoast gun show that I attended was held on March 1, 2008 at the Florida State Fairgrounds located in Tampa Florida. My father, son, and myself arrived at the gun show at 10:30 in the morning. We were expecting the event to be rather small, and uncrowded but, we were definitely wrong on that assumption. The parking lot was already completely full, leaving us to park approximately a half a mile from the building. Parking cost $5.00, but the weather was good, and the walk seem to go by fast. Once we made it to the Fairground entrance, we were in for another surprise. There was a line that wrapped around the building where the gun show was being held, in which we had to wait in for 45 minutes before reaching the entrance to the building. The cost of admission to the Suncoast gun show was a shocking $8.00 per person. Actually, the price didn't seem to unfair until we finally entered the building, and seen what the gun show consisted of.

Once we had made our way inside, all you could see was rows of vendors, and tons of people. It almost felt as if I was waiting in line to use the restroom at a rock concert. Everyone had to scoot along, leaving you little time to look at anything. When someone would stop, the line became more congested, and people would try to shove their way through. Toes were getting stepped on, and you were constantly getting bumped into. It was honestly a pick pockets dream event, except for the fact they would be surrounded by guns, and knives.

The majority of the vendors at the Suncoast gun show was flea market vendors. Most of the booths was poorly run, with thousands of knives resting within inches of your body as you walked past them. As people would stop to look at the pocket knives, one couldn't help but wonder about the safety factors in play. With everyone crowded on top of one another pushing to get through, and several people looking at knives that were not in cases, there was reason to worry. Most of the booths was controlled by only one or two sales persons, so there was really no way of watching all the merchandise at one time. However, there was a few nice booths were merchandise was either in cases, or fastened to the table. These booths was usually the ones that were there to represent local gun stores such as the Shoot Straight in Tampa. The vendors from established stores were very professional, had taken measures to ensure the safety of others, and were well staffed. Unfortunately, they were few and far between.

At the Suncoast gun show you could find, and buy a variety of merchandise. Of course there probably every gun you could think of but, you could also find ammunition, knives, gun cases, gun locks, holsters, swords, and much more. However, there was no demonstrations of any sort, no prizes, freebie's, or anything else that you might expect. A few vendors had business cards, but that was all you were getting for free.

If you got hungry, or needed something to quench your thirst there was a concession stand where you could get a can soda for $3.00 or a hot dog for $5.00. Needless to say there wasn't a crowd near that stand. The Suncoast gun show also offered a concealed weapon permit class. The class was given twice a day, and cost $40.00 which is a fair price. Everything else in the gun show was marked up slightly above it's actual value, but that was to be expected. There was several vendors selling used guns which were priced fairly, but with what guarantee?

So was it worth the $5.00 to park and the $8.00 a person it cost to get in? To us, the answer is no. However, if you are a gun collector, or if your looking for gun parts that might be hard to find, then it may be well worth it to you. Honestly, if you went to the flea market, a pawn shop, then stop into a firearm supply store you would have seen the same things that the gun show had to offer, and saved money. It took about an hour and a half to walk though the entire event, and look at each booth. I did enjoy spending time with my dad but, even he left saying "we should have went fishing".

The Suncoast Gun Show has several event dates in 2008:
March 1 - 2 in Tampa
March 8 - 9 in Lakeland
March 29 -30 in Ft. Pierce
April 5 - 6 in Ft. Lauderdale
April 19 -20 in Tampa
April 26 - 27 in Palmetto
May 3 -4 in Ft. Myers
June 7 -8 In Tampa
June 14 -15 in Ft. Lauderdale
June 21 -22 in Ft. Myers
June 28 - 29 in Lakeland
July 19 -20 in Palmetto