SHOT Show sets commercial, political agenda (VIDEO)

Approximately 65,000 people from all over the world attended the gun industry’s annual convention last week in Las Vegas, making it the second most attended Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in the event’s 39-year history.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the organization that hosts the event, released the final tally of SHOT attendants on Monday. The event allowed manufacturers to showcase new products to other businesses, but this year it also allowed the NSSF set a political agenda as well.

With Republican control in the White House and both chambers of Congress, the gun industry has been vocal about going on the offensive to advances pro-gun legislation. NSSF’s president and chief executive officer Steve Sanetti shared that sentiment during his “State of the Industry” address last week.

Sanetti listed priorities for the industry, some of which aligned with the Trump Administration’s agenda such as de-regulating silencers as priorities for the organization and advocating sentencing changes outlined in “Project Exile” to address gun violence. But Sanetti and the NSSF also continued efforts to reform the federal background check system and included gun suicide prevention as part of its agenda.

“Our overriding hope is that when it comes to helping stop the misuse of firearms by criminals and preventing access to them by legally prohibited felons, violently mentally ill and the drug gangs who terrorize disarmed inhabitants of our cities, the American public will realize: we’re all on the same side,” Sanetti said in his speech Tuesday night.