By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Hundreds of people streamed into the old Dixie Lily Warehouse in Williston Saturday for the Williston Gun Show, motivated in part by curiosity about what was available for trade or purchase but also by concerns that the political gun climate in Washington could darken under President Joe Biden.

            “People are worried. They’re scared. Gun shows have always been popular. Now, people are coming in here to buy guns because they are scared of what’s going to happen in our economy and with the government. They think they need to protect themselves and their family from their own government. That’s why they’re buying. Absolutely true,” said Dotty Hoisington, co-owner of USA Guns Shows, which hosted the show.

            “We have an ammunition shortage because the companies can’t keep up with mass production. Ammunition costs two to three times what it would be normally. People are paying and it buying it by the case because they can’t get it anywhere else.”

            Hoisington estimated the show attracted 1,000 visitors by 1:30 p.m., a big number for a small town but not unusual considering the shortages of ammunition and guns nationally and repeated statements by Biden that he intends to ban assault weapons including the AR 15. There were a few AR 15 guns for sale at the show. The show continues Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

            Visitors to the gun show paid an $8 admission charge and were asked if they were carrying a handgun. Those who were carrying handguns were asked to hand them to Hoisington. She removed bullet clips and placed a plastic zip tie in the bullet chamber and barrel to prevent the weapon from being fired. Hoisington told them the practice of zip-tying guns was selected to meet insurance requirements.

            “We’re not Anti-2A,” she told one customer, referring to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as she zip-tied his handgun. “We just do what we got to do to keep the doors open. Every gun that comes in here we check to make sure it’s inoperable.”

            The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states:

            “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

           

            A concealed weapons course was taking place behind a curtain wall inside the building as the crowd continued to flow in the front door of the warehouse. Hoisington said participation in concealed weapons classes is also on the rise because people fear the classes could disappear if Washington imposes invasive regulations on gun ownership.

            Inside the gun show, vendors were selling different types of guns including collectible antiques, assault weapons, hunting rifles and handguns, and also knives. One table was selling vintage Trump campaign t-shirts from 2020. None of the vendors wanted their names mentioned and only one allowed his photo to be taken. He stiffened and declined to give his name.

Customers didn’t object to the temporary disabling of their handguns but some inquired about why it was being done. Some rifles were brought in for sale. Those weapons were also zip-tied.

            When vendors were asked if they could be photographed and if they would provide their name, they politely shrank away from the reporter and turned away. The liberal media’s assault on private sale of guns at gun shows and on ownership of handguns, rifles, and assault weapons has been relentless. The vendors were no doubt well-read on the subject and highly sensitive to this reality. Assurances from the reporter that he was second-amendment-friendly didn’t thaw the ice. This reporter owns a handgun and has a concealed weapons license.

            Hoisington said vendors were made aware of the fact that she and her business partner, also a woman, prefer vendors sell only to people that present two forms of identification – a driver’s license and a concealed firearms license. It isn’t mandatory. She said people who have a concealed weapons license have gone through a law enforcement background check. That’s the reason for their preference.

            She said people from other states are coming to their gun show to buy ammunition because there’s nothing in states “above us.” She said buyers come from Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and other states.

            Hoisington said Vice President Kamala Harris brags about California and how every state should be like her state.

            “My husband and I Iived out there – my husband is a federal employee. He is a wildfire firefighter. We lived out there in the northern part of the state, which is the good part of the state. When we left, diesel was selling for $6.12 a gallon. It cost us $1,500 a year out there to register our truck,” she said.

            She said the most recent USA Gun Show in Crystal River in January was a good example of what is happening everywhere they put on a show. She said the Crystal River show in the past has typically attracted about 1,000 people.

            “We did almost 4,000 people this year,” she said.  “People were buying what they could. Little ole ladies in their 70s and 80s were coming in with walkers and walking out with .410 gauge shotguns.”

            A .410 -gauge shotgun is the smallest and lightest model shotgun with the least recoil, but it packs a punch.

            Hoisington said Biden’s statements about banning assault weapons have had the reverse effect. Instead of banning the weapons, sales of assault weapons has increased. People are buying them before they disappear.

            “Every time he opens his mouth they sell more guns,” she said.

            She added that guns don’t kill people.

            “Dumb people with guns kill people,” she said.           

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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt February 20, 2021; Posted February 20, 2021