Artifacts from Wild West, WWII on display at Ogden gun show
KEllY KEITER/Standard-ExaminerPeople look at guns at the Utah Gun Collectors Association show on Saturday.Artifacts of the Wild West and Word War II are on display at the gun show at the Golden Spike Events Center in Ogden. The show comes to Ogden biannually each fall and spring. The show concludes today.
KEllY KEITER/Standard-ExaminerA vendor displays semi-automatic rifles at his booth at the gun show on Saturday,. The event is at the Golden Spike Event Center in Ogden through today.
KEllY KEITER/Standard-ExaminerPeople walk around at the gun show at the Golden Spike Event Center in Ogden on Saturday. The show features all kinds of weaponry, on display and for sale, through today.
OGDEN — Can a gun be considered romantic?
Jimmy, a self-proclaimed gun collector from Layton who requested his last name be withheld, thinks so.
Jimmy said he has been collecting guns since he was 17. His commitment to his hobby showed in his impressive display of Colt single-action revolvers at the Utah Gun Collectors Association show on Saturday.
He pointed at an old Colt .45 in the display and called it his favorite.
“That particular gun we’re looking at I have had since I was about 17 years old,” he said. “Back when I was a young guy there were as many westerns on TV as there are reality shows now. So that kinda got me hooked on the old single-action revolvers, ’cause that’s what all my cowboy heroes were using. It kinda went from there.”
Jimmy said he thinks historic guns like those in his collection are attractive because of the history they represent.
“We all kinda like to look back on history and our ancestors and things like that,” he said. “There are a lot of fancy new guns. Double-action revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, a lot of nice ones, some pretty ones, but they just don’t have the … I dunno if ‘romantic’ would be the right word or what … but it’s just kind of something that is very attractive to those of us who are interested in this kind of material.”
George Fleming, President of the Utah Gun Collectors Association, said the UGCA’s gun shows have been going on since the 60s and that 600 to 700 people attend the shows each year.
Bill Cantrell, Vice President of the UGCA, said that the focus of UGCA events is to improve people’s knowledge of collectible firearms. He said for a lot of people, however, the history behind collectible guns is just as important.
“A lot of people are here to teach the history behind the guns. Not just the guns, but the people behind the guns; the soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines. So, that’s our focus,” Cantrell said. “We just like to encourage people to come out, see everything’s for sale and hopefully find that treasure they’ve been looking for for many years.”
Cantrell said the UGCA would be giving out awards Sunday afternoon for the best displays and costumes of the event. Cantrell said a People’s Choice award would be given to the display that garnered the most votes from attendees of the gun show.