It was a record turn out this weekend as thousands packed the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center for the area's first gun show of 2013.
“We have been coming here for quite some time,” Kenton McAtee said Sunday. “Usually you can walk right in the door but yesterday we got here right at 9 o`clock and the line was around the building. I heard some other people say that it was like that pretty much all day yesterday.”
Gun show patrons said it's the recent push for federal legislation that has boosted attendance.
“The new gun laws that they are trying to put into effect are causing sales to just sky rocket,” Galen Peters said. “As you can see, some of the automatic rifles and the high capacity magazines are selling big time.
"Two weeks ago, they were there, now they`re not. People are buying them all.”
And while the future for guns is uncertain, collectors and sellers agree it's causing quite a frenzy.
“I think there is a lot of hype because of the talk of what`s going on and everybody is kind of scared, especially some of the people who like more of the assault-type riffles,” McAtee said. “I don`t know how that`s going to play out in the end, but there are a lot of people worried about it and wanting to upgrade their guns and their ammo.”
The Northwest Arkansas gun show wrapped up Sunday at 4 p.m.
Several more are coming to the state this year, including one in Springdale this March and another in Conway that same month.