More than 60,000 attendees flocked to the SHOT Show last week, a record-setting number of shooting industry professionals. Upbeat is the best word to describe the overall mood at the show, which represents firearms manufacturers, retailers, distributors and media as well as a host of ancillary professions attached to the industry, everyone from advertising salesmen to patent attorneys.

The show was held in the Sands Convention Center, which is a smaller venue than the traditional location of this, the sixth largest trade show in Las Vegas. Normally the SHOT Show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but remodeling prompted the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) to move location.

There were records set within the overall high water mark of 61,000 attendees: of those, 36,383 were registered as buyers and 2,466 signed up as media. Though show organizers deliberately reduced the size of the show to better accommodate attendees at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, still some 1,600 exhibitors filled booth space covering 630,000 net square feet. The show attracted industry professionals from all 50 states and 100 countries.

The SHOT Show is owned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry. Revenues from the show support NSSF's many programs that carry out its mission of promoting, protecting and preserving hunting and the shooting sports. "The SHOT Show allows NSSF to do many good things for industry, shooting and hunting," said NSSF President Steve Sanetti. Added Chris Dolnack, NSSF senior vice president and chief marketing officer, "We have worked hard to make sure SHOT is a great selling and buying experience, and it has resulted in our best show ever.”

The NSSF estimates at the shooting and hunting industry generates $4 billion in sales and represents a bright spot in our overall down economy. NSSF claims the industry supports 180,000 jobs associated with the shooting sports.

In 2011, the FBI reported a record number of background checks, a reliable indicator of sales, including the most ever in a single month (December) and single day (Black Friday). Many in the industry believe, however, that Americans' interest in owning firearms will continue to grow in 2012.

That growth will likely come from mainstream firearms and not things of a more exotic nature, which I saw at the show. For instance,  Colt is offering a reproduction of its 1877 “bulldog” model of Gatling gun (made by a Colt licensed vendor) at $44,500 a copy. For bargain shoppers, Accuracy International’s .50 BMG bolt-rifle (previous model) is being moved out for a $15,000 “discontinued price.”

What you will see moving are guns like the new Mossberg Flex, a modular shotgun that can be easily configured for any application or ergonomics, without tools. Finally “one gun” can do it all, at least in the realm of the 12 gauge.

At the NSSF State of the Industry Dinner, NSSF President Steve Sanetti said, "I have never seen us so unified and united in our purpose." As evidence, he pointed to NSSF's fast-growing membership, which now tops 7,000, an all-time high.

Many awards are presented at the show. NSSF presented Larry Potterfield of Midway USA with its Ken Sedlecky Achievement Award for his generous and longstanding contributions to programs that promote youth target shooting. The Professional Outdoor Media Association and NSSF honored veteran communicator and best-selling author S.P. Fjestad with the prestigious POMA/NSSF Grits Gresham Shooting Sports Communicator Award. Fjestad publishes "The Blue Book of Gun Values," a widely consulted database.

Celebrities at the show included American Idol judge and rock star Steven Tyler, and NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann. Of course the Insider was there but for some reason the paparazzi ignored me.

Parts of this report were taken from an NSSF press release. If you have any “inside tips” for the Insider, e-mail me at nraindustryinsider@gmail.com