Petzal: The Recession and Profanity-Free Speeches

In two days at the 2010 SHOT Show I have yet to hear a discouraging word; in fact the place is bulging and throbbing like an unlanced boil. I’ve just fled from one of the law-enforcement halls because it was so mobbed that you couldn’t get through the aisles, and it is not much different anyplace else.

On the other hand, 2010 is not much of a year for innovation, at least in rifles. There are all sorts of “new” models that are only cosmetically different, but for actual new the only one that I’ve seen is the Blaser R8. Optics, however, is a different story. There are all kinds of new rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and binoculars. I got to a few on the website, but there is much more out there that I didn’t have time to cover.

Ammunition is back. Remember ammunition? You could walk into a store and buy cartridges or primers or powder? That’s back, too. Very nice to see it again.

Apparently the Obama Bubble, if not burst, is severely deflated. Our Peerless Leader has his hands full without trying to take away Joe Biden’s Beretta, and people are not buying everything that goes bang just because it goes bang.

On a more somber note, POMA (Professionals in Outdoor Media Association) voted me the Grits Gresham Communicator of the Year Award, which I accepted from Tom Gresham before a cheering crowd of thousands (and that’s the truth) and I didn’t drop a single F-bomb in my acceptance speech. If you don’t believe it, watch the clip below.