Gun Shows In Chicago?

A posting in today’s The Shooting Wire announcing the Chicagoland Gun Show caught my eye.

Outdoor Sports Group (OSG) is proud to announce the first ever Chicagoland Gun Show January 23-27, 2013 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont Illinois.

The Chicagoland Gun Show will be co-located with the Chicago Outdoor Sports Show which continues a 30 + year tradition of sports shows gracing the shores of Lake Michigan and providing the Greater Chicagoland area a break from cabin fever.

While there are other shows in the vicinity of Chicago, for example shows in Wheaton and Lakemoor, I couldn’t find any that were actually being held in Cook County unlike this show. Rosemont is outside the city limits of Chicago near O’Hare Airport.

I like the fact that they are co-locating the gun show with the outdoor sports show as it should bring higher traffic to the gun show. Given the onerous restrictions on gun ownership and even gun stores in Chicago, I’m guessing there might be some pent-up demand to go someplace where you can actually “touch and feel” a firearm and, with the proper documentation, buy a firearm.

I know the promoters are calling this the “first ever Chicagoland Gun Show” but I wonder if this is hyperbole. If any readers in the Chicago area know of gun shows in Cook County, either current or in the distant past, I’d love to know about it. You can post the info in the comments section.