Hampton gun show draws large crowd

HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) - Hundreds of people filled the Hampton Roads Convention Center for the SGK gun show  on Saturday. It's the first gun show to be held in Hampton Roads since the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut .

Officials for the SGK gun show said they would not let 10 On Your Side cameras inside the gun show area out of respect for the victims of Sandy Hook and the national debate on guns. One customer told WAVY.com the gun show area was filled to capacity at one point, and some customers had to wait outside to get in.

In another part of Hampton Roads, two gun owners expressed their right to bear arms by carrying assault-style weapons in a shopping center parking lot.

"Really what I'm trying to do is show people that not everyone with a gun is dangerous," Kolton Krottinger said. "I want to promote safety."

Krottinger and his friend Brian Graves also approached people in the shopping center and asked them how they felt about people carrying guns in public.

"By me carrying this people can go home to their families, and say they saw someone with an assault-style weapon and nothing bad happened," Krottinger said. "That's what we're out here to show."

Their approach certainly raised some eyebrows.

"We have crazy people around here. You don't know what you're going to see," shopper, Gwen Hillard said.

Portsmouth Police were dispatched to the shopping center to check out the situation. The officer talked with Krottinger and then left the area. Krottinger and Graves guns were not loaded, and they were not breaking any laws.

"We want to show people it's not the weapon but the person behind the weapon," said Graves.

The SGK gun show continues Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. No loaded weapons or loose ammunition is allowed.