Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Boomtown Bust

From JPFO:
In the April issue of the NRA Magazine, there was an advertisement encouraging dealers to purchase tables for a three-day Gun Show to be held May 11, 12th and 13th, at the Boomtown Casino, in Reno, Nevada.

I contacted the promoter of the event, Bert Guy (<www.GatlingGuns.com>, 3320 Arrowwood DR., Lake Havasu City Arizona 86406, Phone: 928 854-3538) and purchased two tables for the show, paid for by credit card.

In preparation for the upcoming event, I (and I am sure many other firearms dealers as well) purchased additional firearms inventory to be sold at the Boomtown Casino Gun Show. I invested several thousands of dollars in doing so.

On Wednesday, April 26, 2007, I received an email (attached) from Mr. Bert Guy advising that “In light of the recent unfortunate incident at Virginia Tech”; a “Corporate Decision” had been made not to allow the display or sale of guns at the show. Furthermore, the email went on to say that, the Show had been changed to a Sporting Goods and Accessory show only. Mr. Guy directed inquiries to his answering machine and to Sheryl Pacini, the Special Events coordinator for Boomtown Casino & Hotel (775-345-8762) (I left messages for both individuals two days ago and have not received a response.)
That's a copy of the ad I scanned--click on it to enlarge. If that's not false advertising, I don't know what is. I don't know Mr. Guy, so I don't know if this is beyond his control, but the responsible party needs to be identified and people who invested based on entering into a contract in good faith ought to have restitution. I also note NRA being typically non responsive, so I'd say some pressure is due there to at least make sure these people are banned from further advertising in any Association publications unless and until they satisfy all parties injured by this.

UPDATE: See comments below. Apparently Mr. Guy is as much a victim of this as anyone, sole responsibility resides with Boomtown, and the entire show has now been cancelled.

6 comments:

Yosemite Sam said...

Funny, at the link for Gatling Guns, they state that they will not accept PayPal due to PayPal's anti-firearms policies.
But they will accept the blame for a crime conducted by an insane individual that had absolutely nothing to do with law abiding gun owners. How are we supposed to fight this battle against the anti-freedom advocates when our own stab us in the back?

David Codrea said...

I noticed that too, YS. Like I said, I'm not sure this wasn't something beyond Guy's control--he could, in fact, be the biggest victim out of this whole affair, and the blame may rest entirely with Boomtown. The problem is, we don't know that, and his silence on the matter only promotes suspicion and distrust. He at least ought to come out from behind the answering machine and level with everyone with a public statement--by choosing the course of non-responsiveness, he has placed himself and his business in the unfortunate position of the appearance of complicity.

I'll email him and invite him to comment.

Anonymous said...

The latest update on the Boomtown debacle: The promoter, Bert Guy is a victim like the rest of us. The responsible cretins are the big shots at Pinnacle Entertainment of Las Vegas (mega gambling interests all over the U.S. and overseas) who own Boomtown and are obviously arrogant anti-gunners and seized on this opportunity to strike a blow for the liberal left. Lets be sure and boycott all Boomtown Casinos and other properties owned by these jackals. Bill Maniaci, Maccabee Arms Ltd.

David Codrea said...

Mr. Maniaci has told me via email that the whole show has now been canceled, so there will be no "sporting goods/accessories" show in lieu of the gun show. He told me the annoncement came from Boomtown.

Anonymous said...

A very interesting side note to this, is Boomtown is betting its entire future & survival against Kalifornia's indian casinos on a huge land/development deal with of all people....Cabelas!!!! thats right the huge hunting, camping, and gun dealer. Way to go Boomtown, pissing down your own legs.

David Codrea said...

Joe, that's great info--thank you--I just gave this a standalone post, at the top of the page on May 3.