‘The sign of American freedom’: A Nampa gun show welcomes all ages but skews old

As vendors and collectors floated around tables, Donna Mulcahy’s 1½-year-old Belgian Malinois named Blitz fidgeted in her tactical harness as she eyed people walking the aisles at the Great Idaho Gun Show. “She’s doing very well today,” said Mulcahy, 63.

Elsewhere on the floor of the Ford Idaho Center, Mulcahy’s husband, Vince, 68, manned the family’s table. Mr. Mulcahy was selling his and his father in-law’s gun collection, a mixture of rare items and more modern military firearms. “The Great Idaho Show is a nice event, because we see a lot of families here,” he said. “They bring their young kids, and it’s great to see people teaching their kids about this stuff.”

The Melba couple say they go to all the gun shows in Nampa. They love coming to the Great Idaho show in part so Mrs. Mulcahy’s father, a disabled octogenarian, can socialize with people outside their home.

The Mulcahys were among approximately 1,600 people who organizers say spent part of Easter weekend at the gun show, now in its 44th year. Collectors, enthusiasts, and traders gathered at the Ford Idaho Center for what organizers call a “rich Idaho tradition.”

Both retired, the Mulcahys are typical of the show’s core demographic. Gun shows like the Great Idaho are largely run and attended by men over 65, said Paul Snider, cofounder of Lewiston-based Lewis Clark Trader, which organizes and promotes the show.

Still, Snider says that for many attendees, the show is a family affair.

“We love to see the young people coming,” Snider said. “A lot of the guys here collecting are in their 70s and 80s, so we have to get the younger people in here, or we won’t be around much longer.”

Snider, 89, started the Great Idaho Gun Show in 1980 and has, by his count, promoted 1,200 gun shows over nearly 50 years in business.

“Gun shows are probably among the most important events [Idaho] communities have,” he told the Idaho Statesman. “People coming here buy food, gas, and spend money in our communities.”

Idaho loves its guns. Gun ownership per capita in Idaho is ranked fourth in the nation, with just over 60% of households in Idaho owning a firearm.

The Gem State also depends heavily on the gun industry: In 2022, the Idaho Statesman reported on research from WalletHub that ranked Idaho as the state most dependent on the industry. Research by Brandon Duong, a regional economist at the Idaho Department of Labor, found that the gun industry in Idaho is continuing to experience growth.

“Guns are the sign of American freedom,” said Josh Roy, a 44-year-old resident of Lewiston, who attended the show to interact with voters as part of his campaign to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Jim Risch in May’s Republican primary. “They signal to the world that the average American citizen owns their own destiny.”

“Coming to a gun show, you see a freedom that nobody has but Americans,” Roy said. “Every time I come, I meet someone new with a different story.”

Though most of the several hundred tables were dedicated to selling weapons and ammo, the vendor selling hot dogs and Bavarian pretzels at one side of the convention had a clear view of the table where two men put on fragrant tastings of Heath’s Blend seasoning. Down the aisle, a woman sold her homemade quilts a few yards from a man showcasing 3-D printed attachments for AR-15 rifles that allow for rapid fire.

“We pride ourselves on this community,” Snider said, “and all are welcome.”

Lewis Clark Traders had to stop putting on their shows at Expo Idaho in Ada County after two separate accidental shootings at gun shows injured people there in 2013 and 2015. (The 2015 incident was a Lewis Clark Traders event.) A moratorium on gun shows in the county was lifted in 2018, but Snider and his team said the county’s new rules were too prohibitive, so they moved to the Ford Idaho Center.

This year’s show brought a significant change in protocol. The Ford Idaho Center officially became property of the College of Western Idaho on Dec. 4. CWI bans firearms on campus with exceptions for law enforcement and arms-centric gatherings like gun shows. Organizers said all weapons at the gun show were required to be checked, unloaded, and zip-tied to prevent loading.

Snider said the more guns there are in a community, the safer it is. But some attendees say there are important caveats to the role firearms play in American life.

At the Mulcahys’ booth, strings of multicolored Christmas lights hung flashing on a black wire frame behind where Vince Mulcahy sat. That, and a large machine gun resting on the crisp white tablecloth, helped their spot on the show floor stand out somewhat in the sea of sellers trying to draw curious eyes.

Vince Mulcahy, who sports a snow-white mustache and a slate-gray hunting vest, grew up in the Alaskan wilderness. He said he hunted as a child to feed his family. “I shot my first moose at 7, I shot my first goose at 5; I’m a big proponent [of gun ownership],” he said.

But he feels strongly that the Second Amendment is meant to support and safeguard everyday people, so carrying a gun requires a heightened level of responsibility.

“If it’s to intimidate, for bravado, if I feel like I have to carry one to go into the mall, I’m living in the wrong place,” he said.

Mulcahy said he worked 14 years in law enforcement, where the purpose of open carry is to de-escalate, not to escalate. After later retiring from a corporate job, he opened a coffee shop in Washington state. One day, a customer walked in with a pistol on his waist. Mulcahy said he told the man that it was Mulcahy’s right as a business owner to refuse him service, because the gun made his customers uncomfortable.

“I believe in my Second Amendment rights, and I tell my sons the quickest way to lose [them] is to carry a gun at a mall or a ballgame and have something happen” he said. “You want to see the laws change in a hurry? They’ll change if that’s what people feel they need to do to feel safe.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 10:12 AM.