Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show doomed Update 1/24: it’s dead.

Did you have plans for attending the grand-daddy of sports and outdoor shows, the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show held in Harrisburg, PA in February?

You might want to reconsider.

The show’s promoters have banned all references to America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15 and those like it.  This is the announcement from their website (you can Google it, but we’re not putting any links, hot or not, to the ESOS website):

As a hunting-focused event, we welcome exhibitors who wish to showcase products and firearms that serve the traditional needs of the sport. Clearly, we strongly support the 2nd Amendment. However, this year we have made the decision not to include certain products that in the current climate may attract negative attention that would distract from the strong focus on hunting and fishing at this family-oriented event and possibly disrupt the broader positive experience of our guests.

Gun owners are not amused.

They’ve made their voices heard and vendors are pulling out left and right.  Literally every hour, big names in the shooting world are pulling out.

(OF Mossberg pulled out as I was typing this report).

They are listed at a Facebook Page entitled, “Boycott the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show”.

The show had about 1200 vendors, according to media reports, and nearly 20% of them have cancelled plans to attend, including big names like Cabelas and the NRA.

Here’s the link for the complete list of vendors and speakers who have pulled out.  It’s approaching 25% of the vendors and we’re over a week out from the start of the “show”.

So, if you were considering attending, and paying $14 a day for the privilege to walk around and see a bunch of vacant floor space, go ahead and knock yourself out.

You’ll have plenty of room to navigate this year, we guarantee it.

UPDATE:  More on the story, including a “Virtual Show”, at Breitbart.

UPDATE #2 (1/24):  It’s dead.

NRA boycott kills outdoors show that banned assault weapons

(Washington Examiner) – A massive boycott sparked by the NRA and other gun-rights groups outraged that the nation’s largest outdoors show banned the exhibition of assault weapons has caused the show’s organizers to abruptly cancel the week-long event in Harrisburg, Pa.

The successful boycott was the biggest demonstration of support by the outdoors industry yet against gun control efforts being pushed in Washington and in several states.

“Reed Exhibitions has decided to postpone, for now, the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show given the controversy surrounding its decision to limit the sale or display of modern sporting rifles (also called ARs) at the event. The show was scheduled to take place February 2-10 in Harrisburg, Pa.,” the organizer said in a statement Thursday.

Folks, it wasn’t the NRA that killed this show.

It was everyday Americans shunning this event after the event’s organizers decided to exclude America’s favorite rifle.  They got “Zumbo’d” for their FUDD attitudes on gun rights.

What’s a Zumbo?  Let the folks at Urban Dictionary help

1. Zumbo ~ ( thanks to Outdoorlife writer “Jim Zumbo” )

(a) A name usually given to FUDD’s who are quisling’s to the 2nd Amendment.

(b) Short for “Zumbified, Zumboite, zomboned, or Zumborrhea.”

(c) People called or associated with a traitorous act against the 2nd Amendment civil rights of others.

(d) It literally means “dumb ass”

And what’s a FUDD?

     Slang term for a “casual” gun owner; eg; a person who typically only owns guns for hunting or shotgun sports and does not truly believe in the true premise of the second amendment. These people also generally treat owners/users of so called “non sporting” firearms like handguns or semiautomatic rifles with unwarranted scorn or contempt.