Primary Arms

Cancelled US Government SHOT Show Attendees, We’ve Got Your Back

I’m hearing from a lot of sources that US government employees who are supposed to attend the 2018 SHOT Show in Las Vegas have had their orders canceled due to the government shut down.

Believe it or not, this sort of thing has happened before. I am already on the ground in Vegas, and as in the past, will do my best to share those products I think will be of interest to you. If anything, you can then follow up with the company via other means after the show.

I can’t attend your meetings for you, and I know it doesn’t take the place of being here, But hopefully this will help out.

12 Responses to “Cancelled US Government SHOT Show Attendees, We’ve Got Your Back”

  1. Baldwin says:

    Chuck Schumer won’t do his job and he won’t let you do yours. Worthless POS.

  2. Jack Boothe says:

    Is travel to SHOT show at government expense, even sans a shutdown, a wise use of taxpayer money when the federal government is $20T in debt? I bet if you look up the word “boondoggle” in the picture dictionary you would see a photo of a bunch of beer swilling bureaucrats at a SHOT show booth in Vegas. I think there are probably better things to waste taxpayer money on.

    • SSD says:

      These aren’t cats in a line platoon. It’s folks in the acquisition business. SOF in particular, relies heavily on the advancements of commercial industry.

      What’s a bigger waste of money, going to a single show and meeting with 20 companies, or visiting 20 different locations to have those same meetings?

      • Jack Boothe says:

        Or, they could review specifications and equipment online {it is after all the 21st century} and have sales people call on them—saving the government a whole lot of money. I further suspect that anyone attending SHOT would not be claiming they travel too much, like they do when they have a four day field exercise or travel to the “williwacks” to visit a contractor.

        • SSD says:

          Perhaps you could tell us all about your acquisition experience? It sure sounds like you know all about it.

    • James says:

      Ahahahahahha, this isn’t the aquisitions sector you are looking for. Money spent on the acquisition of small arms, personal gear, clothing, knives, etc is chump change compared to things like ships, jets, etc.

  3. Rob says:

    How about they go on their own dime like the rest of us!

  4. JM Gavin says:

    A lot of ignorance on SSD today.

    All you folks that think going to the SHOT Show is a waste of taxpayer money…seriously, how do you think the USG gets its gear? Do you even have a clue about the laws and regulations which limit the interaction of the government and the companies that make the vehicles, weapons, aircraft, boats, uniforms, etc etc? Trade shows are BY FAR the best and cheapest way to get this stuff done.

    • Will says:

      Well said! When our force modernization committees meet, the vendors in the particular spaces we are interested in aren’t allowed to brief the committee anymore, so… we have to become SME’s on as many representations we can on each particular competency. Shows like SHOT and SOFIC are ways to do that fact finding and a little bit of O&M travel money to do this on an official capacity is hardly worth the counter-argument. Thanks for your post!