Gun industry converges near Las Vegas mass shooting site

The gun industry is holding its biggest annual trade show this week just a few miles from the site where a gunman slaughtered 58 concertgoers outside his high-rise Las Vegas hotel room in October using a display case worth of weapons, many fitted with bump stocks that enabled them to mimic fully automatic fire.

FILE--In this Jan. 19, 2016 file photo, Nolan Hammer looks at a gun at the Heckler & Koch booth at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Gun control advocates, meanwhile, pointed to the irony of the location and planned a protest to renew calls for tighter gun sale regulations, including expanded background checks.

"We're trying to show the connection between the industry that makes all the money and the damage that their products cause," Lee Goodman, an organizer with Chicago-based Peaceful Communities, said Tuesday. His organization advocates for a rewrite of the constitutional Second Amendment right to own guns.

What exactly will be among the thousands of products crammed into the exhibition spaces at the National Shooting Sports Foundation's SHOT Show convention, running Tuesday through Friday, will be a bit of a mystery, shielded from the public and, this year, members of the general-interest media.

FILE--In this Jan. 16, 2013, file photo, Nightforce rifle scope representatives discuss features of their products with potential clients at the 35th annual SHOT Show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, file)

One thing is known: Slide Fire, the leading manufacturer of bump stocks, a once-obscure product that attracted intense attention in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, won't be among the exhibitors.

The Texas-based company hasn't said why it's not on the roster of more than 1,700 exhibitors, although it was last year. It didn't return messages seeking comment. The company also isn't on the list of those attending this year's National Rifle Association annual meeting or other prominent gun trade shows.

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre Oct. 1, Slide Fire had so much trouble keeping up with demand it temporarily stopped taking orders for the product. It has since resumed.

FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2013, file photo, Michael Kiefer, of DeFuniak Springs, Fla., checks out a display of rifles at the Rock River Arms booth during the 35th annual SHOT Show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

"From purely a public relations standpoint, it wouldn't be a surprise at all if bump stocks just sort of disappeared this year," said Robert Spitzer, chairman of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and an expert on firearms and the Second Amendment. "That's a PR no-brainer."

Still, the convention floor is likely to have plenty of other devices that gun-control advocates have taken aim at in recent years: accessories that make it easier to carry a firearm, shoot it or reduce the noise it makes.

On the list of products they oppose are "trigger cranks," which, like bump stocks, make it easier to fire a long gun rapidly, and "assault pistols," which look remarkably like short-barreled AR- and AK-style firearms but skirt certain federal restrictions because they aren't designed to be shot from the shoulder.

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2017, file photo, shooting instructor Frankie McRae demonstrates the grip on an AR-15 rifle fitted with a bump stock at his 37 PSR Gun Club in Bunnlevel, N.C.  (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

"For a person from the general public, I think the thing that would startle them the most about the SHOT Show ... is just the sheer scope and the vastness of this show," said David Chipman, a former agent with the federal agency that regulates firearms and now a senior policy adviser with the gun safety organization founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was gravely wounded in a shooting in 2012.

SHOT Show has been held for 40 years, half that time in Las Vegas, and this year's gathering was scheduled well before the bloodshed last fall. It will have some 13 miles of aisles featuring products from more than 1,700 companies. More than 65,000 visitors are expected at the gathering, a place where connections are made and deals worth millions are struck.

The general public is not allowed to roam the aisles; the only people who can attend are those with direct ties to the industry: manufacturers and dealers of firearms or associated products. Although a few reporters from general-interest news organizations attended in recent years, NSSF this year restricted access to about 2,500 journalists from trade publications and media.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2013, file photo, high capacity magazines are seen on display at the 35th annual SHOT Show, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, file)

The show's location and timing 3½ months after Stephen Paddock's murderous attack have heightened awareness of the event.

"The gun industry has not been responsible and responsive to addressing the gun violence issue in America," said Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance, in the Connecticut town where 20 children and six educators died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.

Kristin Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C., accused events like the SHOT show of adding to the national problem of weapons and violence.

"We're allowing it to exist," Brown said, "and we're doing almost nothing to address the loopholes in the law that allow private sales to happen at gun shows and over the internet."

FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2016 file photo, handguns are displayed at the Smith & Wesson booth at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Brown also called donation-based compensation for the hundreds of Las Vegas shooting dead and injured inadequate.

"We do almost nothing for victims, whose only fault in this case was to attend a concert," she said.

Goodman planned a protest Wednesday outside the Sands Expo Convention Center at the Venetian resort, and a 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) walk to the outdoor festival venue near the Mandalay Bay resort, from which Paddock fired thousands of rounds from assault-style weapons into a crowd of 22,000 attending a country music concert.

Michael Bazinet, NSSF director of public affairs, said that while those attending are well aware of the tragedy that occurred nearby, "they also know that legal gun ownership and the lawful commerce of arms is something quite removed from the act of an individual such as this. And that's not to diminish the tragedy at all. But people come to the show do make that distinction."

The show comes as the gun industry's fortunes have waned after nearly a decade of unprecedented sales. No longer concerned about the federal government restricting gun rights, Americans have scaled back their firearm-buying sprees.

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2014, file photo, knife manufacturers Les Halpern, left, and Marianne Halpern, of Three Rivers, Mass., examine a display of various handguns outfitted with laser sights on display at the Crimson Trace exhibit during the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, file)

When SHOT Show, which stands for Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade, was launched, its emphasis was on hunting and the outdoors. Over the decades, it has evolved and grown and now has huge sections devoted to the law enforcement and military community. No sales are allowed at the show, firing pins are removed from all guns on display, and there is no live ammunition.

There are so many companies that want to exhibit, there isn't enough space. The waiting list is several hundred names long.

Kevin Michalowski, executive editor of Concealed Carry Magazine, has been going to SHOT Show for more than a decade and said he doesn't anticipate this year's event will have a different feel from other years. He said it's a close-knit industry accustomed to being put under the microscope by the media and by gun-control advocates.

FILE--In this Oct. 4, 2017, photo, a device called a "bump stock" is attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault store and shooting range in South Jordan, Utah.  (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

"This is not just a group of redneck gun owners as are often portrayed by the mainstream media. This is serious business," he said. "Millions and millions of dollars are exchanged, and it helps the economies of many, many states, it helps the economy of the U.S."

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson, called the ruling “a vindication of the rule of law.”

In a statement, she said the department will “work to enforce his lawful removal order” and encouraged Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.”

It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil called the appeals ruling “deeply disappointing."

“The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability," he said. "I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts."

“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he said.

The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.

Khalil’s lawyers can request that the panel's decision be set aside and the matter reconsidered by a larger group of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested last March. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They also accused Khalil, 31, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The government justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said on social media Thursday that Khalil should remain free.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free.”

Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level, even though his immigration case isn't complete.

Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.

The two-judge majority rejected Freeman's worry that their decision would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.

“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments," the judges wrote.

The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)