T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Hundreds of people attended the Marshall County Gun Show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The event returned for its second year and was held at the Marshall County Fairgrounds.

The second annual Marshall County Gun Show brought hundreds of firearms enthusiasts to the Marshall County Fairgrounds over the weekend.

Held Friday through Sunday, the event was hosted by BK Promotions, which is owned by Brandon Kelley of Missouri.

“The gun show that was here before dropped out, and there was a vacancy here,” he said. “I decided to do a gun show in Marshalltown.”

Roughly 20 vendors brought their wares — firearms, ammunition and accessories — spread out on 100 tables. Kelley said it was a smaller show, but it’s a good size for Marshalltown.

“Everybody is having a good time,” he said.

Eric Briggs, manager of Brink Excursions, a Marshalltown outdoor adventure company, had a table at the show and was engaged in telling customers about the tripods, optics and magnification accessories the business has available.

“It’s been busy,” he said. “It seems more busy this year than it was last year. I don’t know (if) there’s more vendors, but it looks like there’s more product and opportunity for people to buy. There’s a lot more people, a lot more going on.”

Every now and then, Briggs travels to other gun shows across Iowa.

“This one being in our backyard, really close to home, it helps out the shop. We try to make sure it happens,” he said.

With this being the second year for the gun show, Briggs said the Marshalltown event is still growing. He noticed more firearms available at Marshalltown compared to other gun shows.

T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Benjamin Leonardo Jacobs of Omaha tells interested Marshall County Gun Show attendees about the body armor he produces in his home. Jacobs gave away 10 pieces of armor in Perry after the January school shooting.

Vendor Benjamin Leonardo Jacobs, 30, of Omaha brought his supply of body armor and ballistic helmets, which are completely made in the USA. He makes the plate carriers himself in his garage. The helmets and body armor plates are produced by veterans.

“This is my first time in Marshalltown,” Jacobs said. “I’m trying to help the American people out and stay alive.”

Gun shows are events the younger generation does not tend to know about, and the older generation are stuck in their ways, he said. Having a new promoter in BK Promotions is beneficial, especially since the business utilizes social media.

An Army veteran, Jacobs left the service 15 years ago. His interest in body armor began during his childhood, when he was engaging in Nerf wars and prepping. A former podcaster featured on sites such as Infowars, he decided to get into the body armor business after he noticed the polarization of American society.

“We all can’t agree with guns,” Jacobs said. “You don’t like guns, fine. You don’t think they should be legal, fine. So, I started looking at what I could sell people that is not going to be argumentative. While you might not agree with a gun, nobody wants to get shot.”

He makes a point of keeping political viewpoints out of his business, saying his main job is to keep people alive.

“People see passion, which is what the world lacks,” Jacobs said. “It’s easy to give an opinion, but are they passionate enough to go to prison for that opinion? What drove me to do this is to keep the American people alive, and to have the passion to give back to the people, to let them know they deserve to be alive.”

He gave away 10 sets of body armor to Perry parents after the January school shooting. While students can’t have firearms in school, Jacobs said they can generally have body armor.

“People can go to prepgoget.com or go Prep and Go on Facebook,” he said. “I have some videos with a few of the tests we’ve done with our plate carriers. I might not always make a sale, but it’s every time I can give someone knowledge. Don’t be scared to ask.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.